Kingston: Is the proposed budget enough to fill our most critical needs?

District 14 Councilman Philip Kingston—whom we interviewed in our August issue—took to Facebook this morning to discuss his view of the city’s proposed 2013-14 budget.

As we reported earlier this week, the budget is being characterized as a sort of successful rebound from the economic downturn, restoring funds to services like libraries, parks and police.

But Kingston says there’s more to it than that.

“… it’s going to cost every last one of us more to live in Dallas this year than last year because we’re raising user fees on just about everything,” he writes on his Facebook page.

Sure, they’re not raising the tax rate, but when compared to surrounding cities, ours is still pretty high, he says.

“Revenue is growing at a good clip; so where did it all go? Basically to deferred obligations — we spent it already. Our public safety professionals are politely but firmly demanding they get back some of what they gave up during the recession. Streets gets a decent budget increase, but it’s to make up for years of neglect. Library, parks, and Arts funding rises but still is inadequate.”

You can hear more from Kingston, Sheffie Kadane, Adam Medran and other city staff during an upcoming budget town-hall meeting in our neighborhood. They all begin at 6:30 p.m.