Don’t break DART to fix the pension

The Red Line Dallas Area Rapid Transit rail stops at the St. Paul Station in downtown Dallas on Friday, June 30, 2023. Removing 25% of the sales tax funding Dallas provides to DART is not enough money to save city pension funds, but it is enough to damage DART service for those who need it most, contributing columnist Dallas Cothrum writes.Bert Lance, former adviser to President Jimmy Carter, popularized the old expression, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

That the City Council waited until after the passage of a large bond package to consider this idea is interesting timing, maybe even suspicious. If the city were a person, I’d think he knowingly maxed out his credit card before his credit rating dropped. The pension issue is a crisis that threatens the ability of the city to have access to money — and the city of Dallas is already on the debt train.

Floating the idea of reducing its contribution to DART from sales tax receipts by 25% is tempting, but it’s not a solution. It would trigger other DART cities to make similar reductions. That would seriously impact DART’s ability to operate just when the transit agency is making a comeback. Ridership is back to nearly 80% of pre-COVID levels, according to one DART board member I spoke to, better than peer cities like Atlanta and Miami.

Dallas is projected to lose its majority on the DART board by 2030. It will have only itself to blame. Seats on the board are determined by the population of member cities. During a period of unprecedented prosperitynoted, “Most states continue to face steeper claims on their future revenue from unfunded pension obligations than from either unfunded retiree health care promises or debt.

United States Latest News, United States Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Busy weekend in Dallas postpones DART repairsThe United Way of Metropolitan Dallas joined WFAA Midday to talk about their upcoming event, 'The Pitch.'
Source: wfaa - 🏆 543. / 51 Read more »

Busy weekend in Dallas postpones DART repair workMonday marked one year since the May 6, 2023, shooting that resulted in the deaths of eight people in Allen. This is the remembrance ceremony special.
Source: wfaa - 🏆 543. / 51 Read more »

Dallas City Council could consider diverting DART funding to address pension crisisDART says sales tax reduction would detrimentally impact the transit agency’s services
Source: dallasnews - 🏆 18. / 71 Read more »

DART is not a piggy bank to solve Dallas’ pension woesSome Dallas City Council members’ idea to reduce the city’s sales tax contribution to DART by 25% to help cover a $3 billion shortfall in the police and fire...
Source: dallasnews - 🏆 18. / 71 Read more »

Letters to the Editor — Chief Eddie Garcia, homeless in Dallas, DART, teachersLetters to the Editor
Source: dallasnews - 🏆 18. / 71 Read more »

Dallas Cowboys schedule 2024: Schedule makers do Dallas big favor down final stretchThe Dallas Cowboys start the 2024 with a gauntlet, but the schedule makers did America's Team a favor down the final stretch of the season.
Source: SInow - 🏆 273. / 63 Read more »