Regional transportation leaders are giving Dallas Area Rapid Transit and its member cities a February deadline to resolve discussions over potential cuts to funding contributions.
During a meeting of the Regional Transportation Council Thursday, local leaders debated the council’s priorities for the upcoming state legislative session.
The draft program included language that would support protecting “existing transportation authority dedicated funding.” Elected officials from member cities that have called to cut DART’s funding pushed to remove that line.
“DART is our most expensive service in Irving. We, I think, put in over $100 million,” said Irving council member Brad LaMorgese, who put forward the motion. “Our residents are not seeing, I think, the efficiency that they’d like to see.”
LaMorgese added that he doesn’t think non-DART member cities on the RTC council should vote on an item when they’re not a part of the agency. DART serves 13 member cities.
Carrollton Mayor Steve Babick seconded LaMorgese’s motion, calling it “premature” to give RTC staff legislative direction before an upcoming study on DART’s cost and revenue forecast, dubbed Transit 2.0.
Both Irving and Carrollton are among the six cities that want to reduce their funding to DART.
“My concern is that this body may be stepping in to give legislative direction on matters that only 13 cities are members of, whereas the region is not,” Babick said. “[The region] ought to allow the DART board, the member cities, to continue to have these discussions and work through it.”
DART board chair Gary Slagel responded by asking RTC council members to vote against LaMorgese’s motion.
“We are diligently working with our cities to try to come up with a resolution on funding, and we’re having discussions on economic development and ways we can become better partners with the member cities,” Slagel said. “To ask for a reduction and improvement is hard to do.”
Dallas council member Omar Narvaez reminded the council that just last week, the city voted to support full funding for DART in its own legislative agenda.
“We are not in the same boat with our other member cities,” Narvaez said. “We have not been produced with the plan.”
Narvaez, who also chairs the city of Dallas’ transportation committee, added that his city has not been a part of conversations that other DART member cities are involved in.
“We were not at the table as far as whatever the other member cities are doing,” Narvaez said.
Collin County Commissioner Duncan Webb said he understands both sides of the issue, as both DART member and non-member cities are in his jurisdiction.
“I’m torn,” Webb said. “I have member cities that are part of DART, and then I have a lot of fast growing cities that are not part of DART, but are looking for transit opportunities.”
He proposed a compromise – include the language to support the “status quo” in transit funding, with room for the RTC to change its position if member cities and DART come up with a resolution or there are other recommendations from cities, DART officials or Transit 2.0 consultants.
“If we can’t reach that consensus by February, then we take the whole thing out,” Webb said.
The RTC ultimately voted to approve the draft legislative program with Webb’s amendment and plans to discuss it at a future meeting.
Pablo Arauz Peña is KERA’s growth and infrastructure reporter. Got a tip? Email Pablo at parauzpena@kera.org. You can follow him on X @pabloaarauz.
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