Dallas County Goes For Tax Hike Afterall

By BJ Austin, KERA News

Dallas, TX – Dallas County Commissioners do an "about face" on a tax hike. KERA's BJ Austin says the decision boiled down to raise taxes or cut payroll.

That was a switch from two weeks ago when Commissioners voted 3-2 to hold the line on taxes and look for 23 million dollars "more" in cuts to balance next year's budget. Across the board pay cuts were part of that plan, and it was too drastic for County Judge Jim Foster. He switched his position on a tax hike. Commissioner Maurine Dickey also made a U-turn, saying the county has scrubbed the budget to the tune of 50 million dollars and could not possibly cut more.

Dickey: This is not a big raise, as you know. It's 18 dollars for a 100 thousand dollar house. It's a low tax raise. And I wasn't for any tax raise, but the truth is this county has been very responsible.

Dallas County has the second lowest tax rate in Texas, at 22.8 cents, and has raised taxes only three times in the past nine years. The tax hike raises the rate to 24.3 cents, still below the other large urban counties: Tarrant, Travis, Bexar and Harris.

Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield was the only "no" vote on the one-and-a-half cent tax hike. He argued that money could be found to avoid pay cuts.

While employees dodged a salary decrease, pay raises are off the table for the third year. And the county still intends to layoff more than 200 people when the final budget vote is taken in three weeks. District Attorney Craig Watkins says while the tax hike helps a bit, he's still fighting to save the jobs of 25 of his staff.

Watkins: And I know it seems a lot of people think that I may be difficult. But I'm just being realistic. We cannot operate efficiently and carry out our responsibility if we lose those 25 positions.

Sheriff Lupe Valdez says she's working her way around layoffs, which she says could jeopardize jail operations and public safety.

Valdez: We are still going to have to do furloughs. We gave 1.8 million to the county, and a lot of that, we're looking at doing it through furloughs. All of us will be furloughed for a couple of days.

Dallas County budget director Ryan Brown warned that the following budget year, 2012, will be just as difficult. He says he's already projecting a 21 million dollar shortfall.

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