The Dallas City Council adopted a goal on Wednesday to hire 300 police officers in the current fiscal year to comply with a voter mandate, which led to a negative rating outlook from Moody's Ratings.
The council's approval — by a 12-2 vote — of a resolution increasing the hiring target to 300 from 250 comes in the wake of a city charter amendment voters narrowly approved on Nov. 5.
Proposition U requires Dallas to appropriate at least 50% of annual revenue increases over the previous year to fund public safety pensions, boost police starting pay, and maintain a police force of at least 4,000 full-time sworn police officers compared to about 3,100 currently.
Shortly after the election, Moody's, which rates the city's general obligation bonds A1,
The city council
Moody's said the city's plan to address the charter amendment's mandates will be a "key focus" in future reviews.
While the city council's Public Safety Committee recommended ratcheting up to 325 new hires in fiscal 2025, concerns over the capacity to train that number of recruits led to the lower goal.
Dallas City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert estimated that 300 additional officers would cost $10 million versus $12.3 million for 325, telling council members she is working with the city's finance team to secure "any additional funding that we need in order to support the hiring goals that this council is discussing today."
Damien LeVeck, executive director of Dallas Hero, a nonprofit organization
"If hiring faster isn't feasible right now, the council needs to figure out some way that is," he told the city council.
In November, voters also passed a charter amendment supported by the group giving standing to any Dallas resident to sue the city to force compliance with charter amendments.
