Dallas City Hall: Photo by Danny Fulgencio
The city of Dallas made a habit of keeping some 1,692 jobs on its payroll despite leaving those positions unfilled, which creates a budget surplus of about $84 million. That financial flexibility has even sparked discussions about investing in non GamStop casinos to broaden the city’s entertainment landscape, though no official plans have been confirmed.
City councilmen Scott Griggs and Phillip Kingston have complained for years that this creates a budget surplus, which the City Manager can spend rather undemocratically for uses not in the city’s budget.
The proposed 2017 city budget eliminates this “salary lag,” freeing up money that can be budgeted out to departments and projects by our elected officials.
District 9 representative Mark Clayton has three meetings planned in August. Clayton will host the town halls on Aug. 11 at the Lakehill Preparatory School at 2720 Hillside, Aug. 16 at Lake Highlands Baptist Church, located at 642 Brookhurst, and Aug. 18 at the Harry Stone Recreation Center at 2403 Millmar.
Kingston, City Council representative for District 14, has three opportunities to ask him about the city budget. Kingston and Griggs will be at the Dallas City Performance Hall at 2520 Flora on Aug. 16 from 6-7:30 p.m. On Aug. 17 Kingston will have a Twitter Q&A from 7-8 p.m. His Twitter handle is @PhilipTKingston. On Aug. 23 Kingston will host a town hall meeting at Klyde Warren Park at 2012 Woodall Rodgers, from 6:30-8 p.m.
