Richardson Approves DART Funding Deal, Governance Restructure Returning $26M Over Six Years

Richardson city officials approved a funding and governance deal with Dallas Area Rapid Transit that Community Impact reported will return roughly $26 million to the city over six years; the approval came as the DART board moved Feb. 20 to adopt a General Mobility Plan and an inter-local compromise aimed at keeping 13 member cities in the system.

DART’s Feb. 20 press release framed the package as a path forward that would send part of DART’s 1 percent sales tax revenue back to member cities if each council adopts the agreement. DART Board Chair Randall Bryant said, “When the DART Board, DART staff, member cities, and regional partners work together to find common ground, we are able to focus on solutions,” language the agency used to urge city-level approvals. The release also noted that the North Central Texas Council of Governments’ Regional Transportation Council approved $75 million earlier in February to help fund transportation projects in DART member cities.

Details on how the return is calculated differ across reports. Community Impact provided Richardson’s $26 million figure and the six-year timeframe. CBS and DART materials described the change as returning a portion of DART’s 1 percent sales tax revenue to cities but did not specify a percentage. A WFAA post captured on Facebook said the agency would return 10 percent of sales-tax contributions phased over six years; that 10 percent figure does not appear in the DART release excerpts supplied here and should be confirmed with DART finance documents.

Plano leaders moved on the same compromise: the Dallas Observer reported the Plano City Council voted to call off a planned May withdrawal election and approved the DART agreement, with Mayor John Muns reportedly saying the changes would lead him to support cancelling the vote and Council Member Rick Horne thanking city staff and DART Board Chair Randall Bryant. At a Plano meeting Bryant was reported to have said he “views his work as unfinished,” underscoring ongoing negotiations over governance changes at the agency level.

Operational consequences remain stark if any municipality still chooses withdrawal. CBS reported that DART has confirmed service in a city ends immediately once withdrawal results are canvassed, a point riders emphasized as the board debated service and funding trade-offs. CBS also quoted DART President and CEO Nadine Lee saying the agency is seeing “positive response” from all member cities and that the compromise is “truly regional at its core.”

Implementation hinges on additional council votes and detailed documents. DART’s release conditions full implementation on adoption by all 13 member-city councils, and the text of the inter-local agreement and the governance-restructure measures approved by Richardson have not been published in the materials provided here. Key outstanding items for local officials and riders include the payment schedule that produces Richardson’s $26 million total, the exact governance changes made in Richardson’s approval, confirmation of the 10 percent figure reported by WFAA, and the allocation plan for the RTC’s $75 million. Until those documents are filed and remaining councils act, the compromise will remain a conditional, region-wide attempt to stabilize funding and preserve service.