Dallas Budget Town Halls Open Next Week Under Shadow of City Hall Fight, Mavs Uncertainty

Dallas residents will get their chance to shape the city's next fiscal year at a series of budget town halls running March 23 through 26, a ritual of municipal democracy arriving this cycle with uncommon gravity. Council members from all 14 districts will host the sessions "to listen to residents prior to beginning work on the FY 2026-27 budget," according to a City of Dallas memo, even as the council continues to wrestle with the most expensive question it has faced in decades — what to do with the I.M. Pei-designed City Hall, where a recent AECOM study pegged full rehabilitation costs at roughly $1 billion.

The council's March 4 briefing on City Hall—a bruising 16-hour session that drew roughly 90 speakers and didn't adjourn until around 1:30 a.m.—ended with a 9-6 vote to keep exploring relocation. "History will not be kind to the people in this horseshoe in front of me," one resident warned council members, according to Spectrum News. The city approved a $5.5 billion budget last September that included a lower property tax rate, but staff have projected a $36.5 million shortfall driven by capped revenue growth and declining sales tax collections, according to KERA News.

Speculation persists that City Hall's 15-acre footprint could factor into a future arena for the Mavericks, whose American Airlines Center lease expires in 2031. The franchise is still navigating the fallout of the Luka Doncic trade that prompted fan protests, billboard campaigns, and a Design District brewery's pointed new double IPA called "Sell the Team," as CBS Texas reported.

The town halls begin March 23 at locations across the city; a full schedule is available at dallascitynews.net.