Dallas residents are getting an early seat at the table for the city’s next two-year spending plan, with City Hall rolling out months of public input on the upcoming FY27 budget. The idea is simple enough: from neighborhood potholes to police staffing, officials say they want residents weighing in through a community survey, listening sessions, council hearings and a round of town halls that will stretch across spring and late summer. The outreach calendar, detailed in a Jan. 23 budget packet, starts next month and is designed to feed those priorities into a balanced FY27 plan.
A Jan. 23 memo from Chief Financial Officer Jack Ireland outlines the outreach timeline and says staff will use a priority based budgeting framework to weigh program costs and outcomes, according to Dropbox. The packet spells out three big goals for the process: give the council early policy direction, offer multiple chances for residents to speak up, and give the city manager enough runway to craft a balanced recommendation for both years of the biennial plan.
Residents will have several bites at the apple. An annual community survey will run from February through May. Spring listening sessions are set for March 23 through 26, and public hearings are scheduled for March 25, May 27 and Aug. 25, The Dallas Express reports. Council members also plan a string of town halls from Aug. 11 to 25, along with budget workshops on April 1, May 6 and June 17. City staff say the mix of formats is aimed at reaching neighbors with different schedules and languages, not just the usual suspects who can camp out at City Hall on a weekday afternoon.
Why this matters
The outreach ramps up as the city builds on a recently proposed $5.2 billion package that council members weighed last August. That draft used a reworked, priority based process and included new dollars for public safety and street maintenance, The Dallas Morning News reported. The FY26 plan will serve as the launching pad for FY27, which means feedback gathered this spring could shift staffing levels and service tradeoffs in the months ahead…