A bill filed in the Texas House Friday would reduce the amount of taxes regional transit authorities like Dallas Area Rapid Transit can collect from member cities.
Filed by Representative Matt Shaheen, the bill would only allow transit authorities to impose a sales and use tax of up to three-quarters of one percent, instead of the full penny tax collected by DART, Houston METRO and Austin’s CAPmetro.
Shaheen, a Republican, represents House District 66, which encompasses parts of Plano, Frisco, Prosper and Celina.
His bill would also require transit authorities to institute a general mobility program that would allow up to 25% of taxes paid by a member city to be used by the municipality for mobility projects like road construction and maintenance, streetlights and drainage improvements.
Any unused mobility funds would have to be used by the transit agency to pay down outstanding debt. The draft would also limit authorities’ ability to issue debt obligations.
Yet it is unclear whether the sales tax rate cut applies to transit authorities’ existing member cities. Steve Stoler, director of media relations for the City of Plano, said the bill does not require a reduction of existing taxes.
Instead, it could apply to new member cities, or limit how much a transit authority could increase taxes, should its board vote to reduce them in the first place.
However, DART board member Enrique MacGregor said in a statement that the sum total of the bill, including the cut-out for a general mobility program, “is likely to result” in an effective 44% reduction in funding for the agency.
“North Texas is one of the fastest-growing regions in the country. We need leadership that understands that transit is a necessary investment, not a burden,” said MacGregor, who represents Cockrell Hill and Dallas.
“Instead of gutting public transit, lawmakers should work to strengthen it,” he added. “Rep. Shaheen’s bill is a short-sighted attempt to divert critical transit funding without regard of the long-term consequences for the region’s economy or our quality of life.”
Shaheen did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
Gary Slagel, chairman of the DART board of directors, said in an email that staff are evaluating the impact of Shaheen’s bill.
“We can say without question that this legislation will dramatically reduce bus and rail service reliability, expansion plans, and long-term infrastructure investments,” he said.
“This legislation will mean fewer stops, longer rides, and reduced services throughout the entire system, with a devastating economic impact on the Dallas region,” Slagel added.
The bill’s proposed language makes good on threats from suburban cities to take their demands to legislators. Since its founding in 1983, DART has levied a 1-cent sales tax on participating cities.
Six of DART’s 13 member cities since last year have cast symbolic votes to cut funding to the agency — a move that would ultimately require the DART board calling a vote or action from state lawmakers.
“The city of Plano raised concerns with DART years ago about the high costs and low value of services for our residents,” Plano’s director of government relations Andrew Fortune said in a statement.
“We gave them ample time to work with us on a fair and equitable solution to their spending problem. When they failed to act, we had no choice but to ask our taxpayer champions in the Texas Legislature to step in on our behalf.”
But Slagel argued that as proposed, the legislation would “dramatically reverse” DART’s trajectory towards a more clean, safe, and reliable system, and affect existing plans to modernize the system. He stated the agency has been working with participant cities to improve services.
“That work will continue, and we hope we can address the concerns of some of our service area cities at the local level and without the need for state intervention,” he said.
Member cities hoping to reduce their contributions to DART have said poor service and a lack of financial transparency have been a source of frustration for years. Plano officials have pointed to a study by firm EY that showed the city contributed $109 million in 2023, while DART spent about $44 million on service there.
Several board members, however, have said the EY report doesn’t adequately reflect how the regional transit agency operates.
“The idea of a regional transportation agency, there was never a mindset of $1 out for $1 in, because it was an investment in the region,” Mark Enoch, who represents Garland, Glenn Heights and Rowlett, said in January.
DART has said that a 25% cut to its funds would cripple the agency, leading to deep service cuts throughout the region.
Service frequency could be cut back from 15 minutes to as much as one hour on some routes, and paratransit services for disabled residents would also be cut back to federally mandated minimums, DART CEO Nadine Lee said last year.
The agency would also have to halt or delay maintenance and modernization projects. Those include efforts to upgrade original rail signal systems, infrastructure and vehicles and to modernize passenger amenities and facilities.
However, Dallas representatives have largely supported maintaining funding to the agency, as have several other suburban cities. Recently, the city’s Transportation and Infrastructure Committee passed a resolution supporting DART’s continued collection of a 1% tax.
In a statement, DART board member Randall Bryant, who represents Dallas, said that he believes ”a bill to fundamentally dismantle and defund our agency would be filed, and that is exactly what HB 3187 would do.”
He added: “The DART board members and member cities of Plano, Irving, Farmers Branch, Carrollton, Highland Park and University Park have never operated in good faith throughout these meetings, and … I remain committed to defending our riders, staff and operators against any harmful or adversarial legislation to DART.”
Requests for comment from DART and board members representing Plano and Irving were not immediately returned Friday.
DART has been meeting with member cities about what they want to see from the agency. Requests from the cities for new or modified services, including an up to $13 million ask from Plano to institute citywide GoLink, could cost the agency as much as $18 million in the first year.
DART’s system services about 700 square miles in Dallas-Fort Worth, operating 692 buses and one of the longest light rail systems in the country. According to its website, DART serves more than 220,000 passengers per day and had a total ridership of 36.1 million in fiscal year 2021.
Transit authority members that choose to withdraw from a transit agency would need to continue paying any debt obligations either at the original tax rate or, if approved by the transit authority’s board, a rate of .50%.
