What should you watch at Dallas City Hall this week?

Wednesday is when the proposed budget becomes the City’s actual spending plan.

Council is scheduled to approve the final appropriations for City departments and programs and adopt the property tax rate.

The proposed rate is 69.78 cents per $100 of assessed value.

What we’re trying to understand: How do these rules work when another agency directly searches Dallas’ Flock network?

Council members have spent the past several weeks proposing amendments that move money between programs. That means restoring one service can require finding savings somewhere else.

One City Manager revision, for example, would transition DPD’s First Offender Program to Dallas County and use some of the savings to restore service at the Arcadia Park Branch Library.

The individual changes may be small compared with Dallas’ multibillion dollar budget. But Wednesday determines which ones actually make it into the final plan.

OCT. 1
The City’s new fiscal year begins. That’s when the spending decisions Council makes Wednesday start taking effect.

Think of it as Dallas’ roadmap for arts and culture.

It lays out what the City believes its cultural priorities should be and provides a framework for issues including artists, cultural organizations, facilities, access, funding and City policy.

More than 9,000 Dallas residents participated in the cultural planning process reflected in the plan.

The revised plan identifies four priorities:

COMMUNICATION
Promote Dallas culture and improve awareness of the City’s cultural offerings.

SPACE
Create and support places where arts and culture can happen across Dallas.

SUPPORT FOR ARTISTS
Build an ecosystem that supports Dallas artists.

SUSTAINABLE ARTS ECOSYSTEM
Help arts organizations and the broader cultural sector become more sustainable. 

The original planning process also identified Equity and Diversity as priorities. Those two are no longer listed among the four standalone priorities in the revised fact sheet. 

The current revision follows changes City Council made to the Cultural Plan in December 2025.

Beginning in January, the Cultural Plan Committee reviewed those amendments and developed a revised version. The Arts and Culture Advisory Commission unanimously recommended the revised plan in May. 

The question we’re following is what those changes mean in practice.

Dallas and the rest of North Texas continue to grow.

The City’s long range water plan is meant to make sure enough water is available decades before shortages become an emergency.

Dallas, the Tarrant Regional Water District and the North Texas Municipal Water District currently operate largely independent water systems. City documents say greater cooperation could allow the region to share water and infrastructure, reduce costs and potentially delay expensive new projects.

Marvin Nichols is a proposed reservoir in Northeast Texas that has been discussed for decades as a future North Texas water source. But the project has also created conflict between regional water planners.

A 2025 mediation agreement calls for an independent study of the reservoir’s potential effects on the economy, agriculture and natural resources of the regions involved.

Another study would compare Marvin Nichols directly with the Toledo Bend option including both monetary and non-monetary impacts. 

Dallas would contribute up to $83,125 toward the studies.

The Transportation & Infrastructure Committee is reviewing the regional water supply items Monday.

City Council is expected to consider the agreements on Sept. 23.

The Prairie Creek property is 11.53 acres at Scyene Road and N. Prairie Creek Road. The applicant says the property would be used for senior housing.

The site sits at two major arterial roads, has DART bus service nearby and is close to commercial uses.

Staff argues those conditions make multifamily housing appropriate even though single-family homes are nearby.

The Sandyland property is smaller (about 4.42 acres) and sits in a predominantly single family area.

Unlike Prairie Creek, the property is on a local street and doesn’t have DART bus or rail service within half a mile.

Staff says the proposed apartment zoning would be too intense for the location.

ForwardDallas is the City’s long range land use guide. It doesn’t automatically change zoning.

Instead, planners use it when evaluating requests like these. These two cases provide a pretty clear example of what that means:

Dallas isn’t simply deciding whether it wants more apartments. It’s deciding where apartments make sense.

Deep Ellum has special zoning rules governing certain uses.

Three Links’ previous SUP allowed the property to operate as a bar, lounge or tavern with live music.

That permit was approved by City Council in 2022 and expired three years later. The venue is now going through the zoning process again since that agreement has reached the end of its original five year term.

No expiration wouldn’t mean no rules.

Under the proposed conditions, Three Links could operate until 2 AM, outdoor speakers would be prohibited, and the venue would still have to comply with the approved site plan and other City regulations. 

So the question isn’t whether Three Links should be regulated. It’s whether it should have to return to City Hall every few years to keep the same use.