The City's tax-hike debate: "It ain't over 'til it's over"

Yesterday's meeting of the Dallas City Council made for great television. We had one council member, in a moment he probably already regrets, calling some of his colleagues snake oil salesmen. We had a video tour of South Dallas. We had an impassioned speech that had more to do with the history of civil rights than it did the city's budget woes. My favorite moment was when council member Angela Hunt, after hearing colleague Anne Margolin suggest alternate ways the money produced by a tax-rate hike could be spent, challenged Margolin to vote for the rate hike if the council voted for her alternative plan. Margolin, of course, refused to accept the challenge, proving her entire charade was another example of political grandstanding that had nothing to do with solving anything.

Then council member Vonciell Jones Hill requested a straw vote on an amendment to raise taxes nearly a nickel per $100 valuation and, after a failed stalling tactic by Da Mayor, got her wish. The amendment passed 8-7. That is leaving a lot of folks assuming (1) that property taxes will go up by that amount when the final budget is passed a week from tomorrow and (2) Da Mayor is about to suffer his first major political defeat.

However, I'm betting this fight is far from over. For one thing, I'm willing to bet that City Manager Mary Suhm is not happy with the mood of the council right now or about the very real possibility that resentments will linger among council members long after this debate is over -- resentments that could make it nearly impossible to accomplish many of her objectives. For another, if you think Da Mayor is calling it quits on this issue, you don't know the man.

Neither Da Mayor nor Suhm want an 8-7 vote on this. Her goal is going to be at least 10-5 one way or another and between now and when the budget is finally adopted, she is going to be working to accomplish that. I also think she will enlist the help of Da Mayor to work behind the scenes to get that done.

How might that happen? The first convert they will approach is council member Dave Neumann who says he would support a tax increase but not one as high as the one approved yesterday. So between now and next week (there is no concrete requirement that the budget MUST be approved next Wednesday; it just might mean that no one the city payroll gets paid if it isn't) Suhm must find a compromise increase that Neumann and the other eight can both accept. If that happens, then the vote becomes 9-6. I also heard a conciliatory tone in the comments made by council member Linda Koop and I think Suhm could use Koop to persuade the eight that, in the best interests of the city, to accept a lower tax hike and, if they do, she would join their ranks. Then you have it: Suhm's needed 10-5 vote and Da Mayor can claim partial victory in that he helped lower the inevitable tax rate hike.

Now, what happens if all this fails and it remains 8-7? Back in April I predicted Mary Suhm might retire following the passage of this budget. A couple of weeks after I wrote that, I had lunch with another former city employee who knows Suhm quite well -- probably talks with her three or four times a week --who leveled me with one great truism: Mary Suhm has too much energy to retire. If she did retire, what would she do with her time? She must stay busy and active. I couldn't argue with that. She needs to be running something. But if this 8-7 mess lingers, I'm going back to that original prediction.