Dallas city leaders are working to come up with a viable plan to address the ongoing pension crisis. One option being considered has public transportation officials on edge and even a county commissioner fired up.
Some 220,000 people rely on DART transportation each day, according to dart.org. With that in mind, DART spokesperson Jeamy Molina said any mention of a fund reduction is a concern.
“That’s how they [passengers] get to work. That’s how they get to school. That’s how they get to their doctors’ appointments,” said Molina. “Any cuts to service through the sales tax would be devastating to DART.”
DART, however, is part of the discussion as Dallas city leaders look for ways to solve the multi-billion dollar pension shortfall.
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“We understand they’re trying to solve a problem, but in doing that it would break something else,” Molina said.
Mayor Pro-Tem Tennell Atkins, also on the pension ad hoc committee, told NBC 5 that diverting money from DART’s one-penny sales tax revenue is worth looking into.
“My job is to look at everything. Everything is on the line to make sure we resolve this pension crisis with our uniform [officers and firefighters] but also with our employees. It’s not just about public safety, but with our employees,” Atkins said.
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For now, though, he told NBC 5 that DART is simply a part of an ongoing conversation that also includes monetizing land and other assets.
“We should have a right to have a conversation with the steward of our one cent,” said Atkins. “And that conversation is ‘Hey, what happens if we do take a quarter-cent, a half a cent, or one 16th of a cent, or whatever?’ That number has not been found.”
Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price learned of the discussion and said he was taken aback. A letter addressed to both Atkins and City Councilwoman Paula Blackmon reads in part:
“As a representative of this office, I share the concerns about the mismanagement in the city's pension system. However, I cannot stand by and watch as our future workforce is jeopardized and a significant quality of life issue in the southern sector is ignored. This is not just a matter of policy but a personal concern for me," Price wrote. "Redirecting funds that were specifically voted on for DART to a failing pension plan is a disservice to the public. This issue, which suspiciously surfaced days after a bond election, further undermines the public's voice. It's time to remind our elected officials that they work for us, not the other way around.”
Atkins argued that city leaders have a right to inspect DART’s revenue as an option. He said he doesn’t want to push the issue further down the road.
“We have to pay the pension,” Atkins said. “And when we do the pension, somebody is going to suffer. We’re gonna lose some kind of service, some kind of amenity, some kind of way. When you start cutting, you’ll lose somebody. So why not tell the people upfront it’s a possibility we’re going to lose something.”
In the meantime, Molina said DART will continue business as usual. DART told NBC 5 that 75% of its revenue comes from the penny sales tax.
“We have budget meetings that are open, that are public, that are available to the community to find out specifically where all of our dollars are going,” Molina said. “It’s broken down by department. It’s broken down by cost allocation. It’s broken down by everything you can see.”
In a letter to members of the City Council, DART CEO Nadine Lee said receiving one-quarter less in sales tax revenue would equate to $6 billion less in revenue over the life of a 20-year financial plan.
The pension committee is expected to meet again next week.
