PLANO, Texas — The city of Plano unanimously approved a resolution that supports a sales and use tax reduction of a quarter-cent which is allocated for Dallas Area Rapid Transit or DART. The 1/4 cent reduction accounts for about $30 million dollars annually for the second largest contributor to DART, behind Dallas.
Mayor John Muns stresses that this move would not reduce existing services. He says this move is about holding DART accountable to its member cities and their tax payers.
"One-hundred fifteen million dollars a year...I'm not sure we're getting that value out of it," said Muns.
However, Plano or any other DFW suburb lack to power to actually change their tax contributions to DART. The DART board is the only body that can approve a restructuring of their funding model, so suburban councils are largely pushing these ordinances to make a point: no taxation without transportation.
Muns says he is 'very concerned' by the drop in ridership over time. In 2019 DART had more than 69 million riders in that year. Of course, the pandemic kept people home and the ridership numbers plummeted. In 2021 only 35 million riders used DART transit that whole year. While the numbers have come up gradually since the pandemic, it is not anywhere near pre-pandemic levels. In 2023 there were an estimated 48 million riders.
"It stayed packed, it was standing room only," Anthony Galloway recalled ridership more than ten years ago when it was at its peak. Galloway takes the DART light rail line six days a week for work.
"DART is not a failure in recovering pre-pandemic ridership, it is a success," said one Plano resident who is not in favor of the resolution that passed Monday night. "DART does and will give the city the service it pays for," said another speaker at Monday's city council meeting.
Plano has multiple stops along the DART light rail line. One of the stops is in the city's historic downtown district. DART has a red and orange line that runs through the city.
"The City of Plano does not have the authority to unilaterally reduce this tax rate exclusively for Plano. Any action by the 15-member DART board would impact all service area cities. Any reduction in the voter-approved 1% use tax that funds Dallas Area Rapid Transit would have devastating effects on the most vulnerable populations in all cities that rely on DART to access jobs, health care, education, and more," read a statement from DART.
Mayor Muns of the city of Plano says that this resolution is about financial transparency. He says the city wants to continue to maintain a positive working relationship with DART. Keep in mind, a new Silver Line running from Plano to DFW Airport is still in its construction phase.
"We have no real intention of going anywhere with DART....we'd just like to see a real value," said Mayor Muns.
The city of Plano has two members on the fifteen member DART board. The city of Dallas is represented by eight members on the board.