TX: Transportation planners warn that defunding DART could yield unintended consequences

The North Central Texas Council of Governments Regional Transportation Council’s discussion of its 2025 legislative agenda Thursday again centered on disagreements among officials about Dallas Area Rapid Transit funding.

A draft of the legislative agenda put forward by NCTCOG staff last month included among its priorities protecting “existing transportation authority dedicated funding,” a nod to the one-cent sales tax DART collects from member cities. Six cities — Plano, Irving, Rowlett, Highland Park, Carrollton and Farmer’s Branch — have said they want to reduce the funds they put into DART by a quarter.

After significant back-and-forth between council members Thursday, an amendment to NCTCOG’s legislative agenda passed allowing the proposal supporting DART funding to remain in place until February. If DART and its member cities don’t come to an agreement by then regarding funding, the council will revisit the item.

The change comes weeks after a meeting in early October where representatives from six cities said DART has until Nov. 11 to sign onto an interlocal agreement or they would take their fight to reduce funding to the Texas Legislature. The agreement would create a general mobility program to rebate cities up to 25% of their tax contributions, which they can then independently invest in eligible mobility projects.

Regional Transportation Council director Michael Morris has said asking the legislature to intervene could have unintended consequences for cities and that NCTCOG staff recommend maintaining funding until the Transit 2.0 study results have been released. Transit 2.0 is a city-supported study commissioned by the council to examine how to enhance transit in the area by 2050 as officials plan for growth.

“I don’t think it is a very good idea to take an aggressive legislative position to this particular legislature,” Morris said. “I think you need to think about what is happening with our legislature with regard to local control, and what is their appetite for transit period.”

A 25% reduction in DART funding could have unintended consequences like creating challenges meeting air quality standards that would impact the RTC’s work directly, Morris said.

Officials from member cities supporting cutting DART funding have maintained that NCTCOG should refrain from weighing in on the funding fight. But Dallas representatives — who said they were not invited to closed-door planning meetings with suburban cities about funding — disagreed.

“I think if member cities that we’ve heard from feel as strong as they have, I think that you all need to continue to do y’all’s advocacy and work with the other member cities, but to try to bring your agenda to a regional entity like the RTC, and conflating the roles that we play within our own individual jurisdictions versus that of representatives on this body, is problematic,” Dallas representative and City Council Member Adam Bazaldua said.

The revised agenda presented Thursday also removed a controversial proposal that would prevent non-transit cities within a region from wooing companies located in transit member cities. The initiative would have been an attempt to even the playing field among transit member cities and nonmember cities, which have more available funds for economic development. But it drew ire from council members who said it would harm economic growth in cities that are not part of a transit authority.

“Arlington will be opposed to any attempt to diminish local control by either trying to force a non-subscribing transit city like Arlington or Grand Prairie into a position where we’d have to join a transit agency to try to keep a business,” Arlington Mayor Jim Ross said in September.

The revised legislative priorities include providing incentives for transit-oriented development, improving transportation safety statewide, and supporting dedicated funding for public transportation and rail via a Texas Department of Transportation budget rider.

The 89th Texas Legislature will hold its first meeting Jan. 14.

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