Council unanimously approved a resolution at the Feb. 10 meeting, a week after Gary Slagel, chair for the DART board of directors, asked council members for such a resolution.
“Passionately in favor,” council member Jennifer Justice said during the meeting.
The overview
DART is primarily funded by a one-cent sales and use tax paid by member cities. However, recently, six of the member cities have called for a 25% reduction in funding.
Richardson City Manager Don Magner said DART is an amenity to the community.
“We believe that it is important to continue to fund DART at the full penny because we believe it will be better when it’s more connected,” Magner said. “Including, and most importantly, when it has enhanced and improved last-mile connections.”
Last-mile connections are considered to be the station that connects riders to their final destination.
Magner said that DART can be used as an economic driver for the city and the best way to do that is to fully fund it.
Quote of note
“We believe DART’s willingness to work with us on making the region more connected and connecting our riders to their destinations...is a sufficient reason to continue to fund them,” Magner said.
