Budget town hall draws residents

Residents filled Manske Library meeting room to learn more about the City of Farmers Branch's proposed budget and tax reductions.

At City Council's direction, city staff have proposed a 2.75-cent reduction in the city's tax rate, which requires them to cut $968,897 from the city's budget.

To accomplish this, if adopted, the 2024-2025 budget, which goes into effect on Oct. 1:

• removes and adjusts a number of special events from the parks and recreation department;
• reduces facility hours by 35 hours per week, preserves irrigation but otherwise removes city staff involvement from the Farmers Branch Community Garden operations;
• reduces annual allocation to the Parks Master Plan and reduces trail projects;
• eliminates The Branch Connection Bus;
• reduces the Manske Library contract by 10 percent;
• reduces contract services by $60,000;
• eliminates one human resources position; and
• eliminates the mosquito spraying program.

Residents wrote talking points on Post It notes and placed them on the boards to communicate their concerns.

Elimination of the mosquito-spraying program garnered the most notes though people also spoke about closing the Citizen Collection Center.

City Manager Ben Williamson and Community Services Director Danielle Summers confirmed that the while the city is eliminating spraying, it is planning to increase the work it does to prevent mosquitoes from becoming an issue by using targeted larvicide dunks containing Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti) to kill mosquito larvae in stagnant water before they can mature.

Summers said the city already uses dunks in the stagnant areas of the creeks during the dry season.

"We're still going to respond when there's a positive," Williamson said in regard to the West Nile virus monitoring program that Dallas County Health and Human Services maintains.

In addition, the city can ask the State of Texas for help if necessary, said Jawaria Tareen, deputy city manager said.