Local Climate Action: The Scoop on Dallas’ Recently Approved Budget and the Climate Initiatives it Pays For
By Kathryn Guerra
With an administration in Washington, D.C. that’s more interested in protecting fossil fuel corporate profit and a Texas Legislature that’s at best indifferent to the crisis, climate action at the local level is even more critical. While one city won’t solve the climate crisis by itself, it is genuinely an issue where every little bit helps and local communities can come together to do their part.
In Dallas, the newly adopted $5 billion budget for fiscal year 2025-2026 went into effect on Oct. 1. Despite a projected overall shortfall of nearly $36 million, the budget for the city’s Office of Environmental Quality and Sustainability increased slightly from the year before, from $5.3 million to $5.6 million.
Before the budget’s adoption, a freshman councilmember from North Dallas circulated a memo to his council colleagues proposing $13 million in cuts to the city manager’s budget, including all of the budget for the Office of Environmental Quality and Sustainability funding for the current and next fiscal year. In the memo, which also proposed cuts to programs focused on citywide diversity, equity & inclusion initiatives, he reasoned that climate strategies represent “an avoidable expense” that is “too costly to prioritize now.”
Public Citizen responded, saying that the councilmember “wants to give Dallas the DOGE treatment, slashing budgets and killing programs. We’ve seen how that’s working in D.C., and we don’t want it here. We suggest the council member take some time to learn about what’s working in Dallas before proposing changes.”
Ultimately, the councilmember did not introduce his proposed cuts as formal budget amendments to be voted on, and the city council never considered them. Late efforts to remove $400,000 in funding for the city’s newly adopted Bike Plan also failed.
In the approved budget, the city invested $800,000 for electric vehicle charging stations, $350,000 for solar off-grid charging stations, and $5 million for 75 to 100 transit and medium-duty electric vehicles. The budget also included $500,000 for maintenance of the city’s existing solar.
Public Citizen advocated during budget hearings for the city to purchase additional light and heavy-duty electric vehicles for the city’s fleet, taking advantage of North Central Texas Council of Governments grants to underwrite them. One council member introduced an amendment to direct sanitation to order an electric truck, but since it didn’t involve any funding, he procedurally had to withdraw. The council member then issued a directive to the city manager and fleet to consider the purchase.
Results from the city’s greenhouse gas inventory will be released this fall. We hope the city will use this inventory to measure the city’s progress toward achieving the climate action plan goals and to set new priorities for the coming years.
New Leadership
For the past ten months, the city’s Office of Environmental Quality has been under the interim leadership of Paul White, the department’s assistant director. White took the helm after Carlos Evans announced his departure from the role in January 2025.
Last week, the city announced that Angela Hodges Gott will lead the city’s Office of Environmental Quality & Sustainability as Chief Resiliency Officer. Gott, like her predecessor, is a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency attorney who has worked in the Office of Regional Counsel at EPA Region 6 since 2010.
Gott will start the new role on Oct. 20.
Guerra is the director of Public Citizen’s TCEQ Watchdog campaign