The Plano City Council supported a resolution Monday to cut tax revenue contributions by a quarter.
The Plano City Council voted Monday to ask the Dallas Area Rapid Transit board to allow Plano and the 12 other DART member cities to pay 25% less in tax revenue over time.
Plano has said they don’t want to reduce services. Instead, they argue DART should cut expenses and consider bringing in more member cities to bolster revenue.“We’re not talking about a reduction of services,” Plano’s director of government relations Andrew Fortune said during Monday’s meeting. “What we are talking about is capping revenues today. We know how much it costs this year, today, to run what currently exists.
Plano officials cited depressed ridership following the COVID-19 pandemic despite an increase in tax revenue. Ridership is at 80% of pre-pandemic levels, which is on track “or above” national averages for transit agencies, Molina noted.“Even the pre-pandemic levels, many would argue are not reaching the maximum capacity of where we wanted to see DART in terms of its utilization,” Fortune said.
The move comes amid growing tensions between some urban and suburban DART member cities. The DART board earlier this month rejected a proposal that would have required ⅔ board approval — instead of the current majority vote required — to add or reduce DART service in a city going forward. The proposal reflected the doubts expressed by some board members about whether suburban cities receive equal benefits from the transit authority as urban Dallas.
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