North Texas cities split over bill that will change how DART transit agency is funded
A controversial bill is advancing through the Texas Capitol that, if approved, will change how Dallas Area Rapid Transit, DART, is funded.
The legislation, known as HB 3187, passed the House Transportation Committee on Tuesday and heads to the House floor for a vote. Since its inception 40-plus years ago, the 13-member cities pay one cent of their sales tax revenues to DART for bus, rail, and other mobility services.
But DART says seven of those cities have paid more into the agency than they've received, and some, including Plano, Irving, Carrollton and others, want a break on how much they provide.
The bill will allow cities to take back up to 25% of their sales tax money sent to DART to spend on their own road projects, sidewalks, and hiking and biking trails, among other things.
Cities that support the bill say they had no choice but to ask for this bill because, after years of requesting DART to come to the table and address their funding concerns, they say the agency refused.
During a hearing last month before the House Transportation Committee, Plano Mayor John Muns told lawmakers he thought DART was being unfair.
"In 2023 alone, Plano contributed $109 million to DART, and our taxpayers received less than 50 cents on the dollar of that investment. It is in DART's interest to maintain inequity and continue their budget philosophy of spending every dollar," said Muns.
During that hearing, Dallas Councilmember Omar Narvaez, of District 6, responded by saying, "When cities joined DART, they did so knowing they may not be one to one in returns. The voters approved it anyway in 13 cities."
State Representative Matt Shaheen, R-Prosper, whose district includes Plano, filed HB 3187.
He told Eye On Politics on CBS News Texas, "DART has been recalcitrant for probably close to a decade. You have six cities that have been overpaying into DART. They've been asking DART to sit down and come up with a new financial arrangement, so they're not overpaying. DART has refused to do that. So, we've been forced into a situation where we're going to attempt to take care of this legislatively. So, what the piece of legislation is called is the DART Reform Act. What it does is it allows these cities that are overpaying to receive 25 percent back in the payments that they make into DART and then they can take those dollars and apply them to local mobility, transportation projects."
DART'S Executive Vice President and Chief Communications Officer Jeamy Molina pushed back against the bill in an interview with Eye On Politics.
"House Bill 3187 kills DART. It will destroy all of the work that the community and our 13 service area cities have been working on for over 40 years. In the first years alone, it wipes out 5,800 jobs and reduces our economic impact by nearly a billion dollars. A 25% reduction in our revenue looks like over $230 million in the first year. That's our total capital allocation for buses, for trains," Molina said. "Our capital budget in one year is $700 million. So, we would ask that any city think about what they would do if they were asked to reduce their revenue by 25% in one year."
When asked if that amount is a worst case scenario because not all the cities would take back 25% of their funding for DART, Molina said, "If your boss were to tell you, do you want a 25% raise, and all you have to do is say yes, what would you do? That's the option that this bill allows every one of our cities to have is to take 25%."
State Representative Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie, told Eye On Politics that he opposes the bill and will vote against it when it reaches the full House.
"Even though I don't represent a DART service area presently, I think DART is instrumental to our region's connectivity and our region's economic development, and we need to be doing more to connect North Texas to one another, not less. I think the bill that is an attack on DART is really moving in the wrong direction. The cities that are wanting some changes from DART, I think they need to be heard," Turner said. "I know Plano has raised several concerns. I think some other cities have as well, and I think those concerns need to be seriously listened to and addressed if possible. But what should absolutely not happen is the legislature should not step in and undermine a local compact that's been in place since the 1980's that really provides the best mass transit in our region and some of the best in the state."
If the bill passes the House, it will head to the Texas Senate.
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