DALLAS — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a new lawsuit accuses Dallas officials of violating a voter-approved measure aimed at significantly beefing up the city’s police force.
The background: With a ballot initiative known as Proposition U, Dallas voters in 2024 amended the city charter to require hundreds more police officers and additional tax dollars for policing and public safety pensions. Supporters of the ballot measure portrayed the city as experiencing high crime and public disorder — though crime in Dallas has fallen from pandemic-era highs, and the city gained national attention for anti-crime efforts that drove that decrease.
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Under the charter amendment, Dallas leaders must set aside at least half of any new revenue the city gets each year into the city’s public safety pensions, and use anything left over to hire more officers and boost starting salaries for new officers. The charter amendment mandates that the city must have at least 4,000 sworn police officers — and to maintain that officer-to-resident ratio should the city’s population grow.
Why Texas sued: Paxton, who is seeking to oust U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in a contentious Republican primary March 3, accused Dallas officials of violating the charter amendment by effectively underfunding the department.
“When voters demand more funding for law enforcement, local officials must immediately comply,” Paxton said in a news release. “As members of law enforcement across the country increasingly face attacks from the radical Left, it’s crucial that we fully fund the brave men and women in law enforcement defending law and order in our communities. This lawsuit aims to do just that by ensuring Dallas follows its own charter and gives police officers the support they need to protect the public.”
Paxton accused the city’s top budget official of drastically under-calculating how much excess money Dallas had in its current budget to put toward measures the amendment mandates. A press release from his office said the city reported additional revenues of $61 million, but claims that figure should have been $220 million. It’s not clear from the lawsuit or city budget documents how Paxton’s office reached that figure. Paxton’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.
What the city says: A city spokesperson declined to comment, citing pending litigation.
Broader impact: Dallas’ police spending grew by more than 5%, or $37.7 million in the city’s current budget. Dallas had about 3,200 sworn police officers when the Dallas City Council adopted the city’s current budget in September. The new mandate required the city hire at least 350 new officers this fiscal year. As of November, the department had 3,314 officers, KERA reported. Officials have said they won’t be able to hit 4,000 officers required by the charter until the end of the decade, The Dallas Morning News reported.