In 2008-09, the City of Dallas had a budget of about $2.7 billion. The city’s budget year starts October 1st and ends September 30. The City Manager proposes a budget, and then the council votes on the budget and any proposed amendments. The council votes on the budget at the end of September.

This year was the first time I have voted against a city budget. On October 11, 2008, I explained my reasoning in a blog post. Here’s an excerpt:

Lastly, I think our budget is too optimistic in this financial climate. It’s not an overstatement to say our country is in a financial crisis. We need to cut back as much as possible and prepare for lower than predicted property and sales tax revenue. I hope the optimistic predictions turn out to be right, but I’d rather plan for the worst. Under the adopted budget, I predict we will not see as much money flowing into the city coffers as hoped, and that mid-year the city will have to cut services to make up for the shortfall.

Councilmember Rasansky and I had proposed about $50 million in budget cuts. Unfortunately, our proposal was not approved by the council. As the last several months have revealed, last year’s revenue projections were in fact overly optimistic. Sales taxes are down as well as property tax revenue. As a result, in May, the City Manager cut the budget by about $50 million due to lower than expected property taxes and sales taxes. Mid-year budget cuts are necessarily twice as deep as cuts at the beginning of the year, and it was unfortunate that the rest of the council and city manager did not see the handwriting on the wall.

The upcoming budget is going to be very difficult. Compared to this year, we’ll have about $130 million less revenue from property taxes, sales taxes, and fees. We’ll also have about $60 million more in expenses, such as pension and healthcare costs.

The City Manager and her staff have been working tirelessly on the budget, and here is the city’s budget presentation and the draft budget.

I’ll be holding four townhall meetings to present the budget and get your input.