The Dallas City Budget: Why there will be a tax increase and the budget killer no one is talking about

• If you, like me, regard a tax as any money you pay to a governmental entity in return for some form of service from that entity, then be prepared for some hefty tax increases from the City of Dallas in the upcoming fiscal year. The major one -- the one most homeowners will have to pay -- will come in the form of a water rate increase. There will be other "fee" (read that "tax") increases, to be sure, but the water rate increase -- and I understand it's going to be a hefty one -- will be the biggest one and will hit the most residents. There's also the chance that after two consecutive years of sanitation fee decreases, that rate may also go up. There is one glimmer of hope on this one, however. The city is proposing an idea that basically says all garbage collected in Dallas should be dumped in Dallas, namely at the city-operated McCommas Bluff Landfill. Private garbage haulers are launching a major attack on this proposal and are willing to spend whatever it takes to convince council members this is not a good idea. They have already bought off a couple of southern sector council members and are working on others. If their efforts fail, expect to see sanitation rates remain at their current levels or possibly decrease for the third straight year. Should they succeed, sanitation rates surely will increase
• Why will they increase? It has a large part to do with something on everyone's mind, but an item that has yet to be connected it to the Dallas budget (at least outside the city's budget planners) and that's the rising cost of gasoline. In case you haven't noticed, the city operates a lot of vehicles, not only garbage and recycling trucks, but police cars, ambulances, fire trucks and many other vehicles. All of them are dealing with the higher price of gasoline the rest of us are facing. Increased fuel costs are going to have a dramatic impact on the upcoming budget and I'm dreading what services the city proposes to cut to pay for these costs.