VOTE411 Voter Guide

Ballot Language Proposition A: Shall the Dallas Area Rapid Transit System be continued in the Town of Highland Park?Vote “Yes” or “No”DESCRIPTION A vote “Yes” means the voter wants Highland Park to stay in DART.A vote “No” means the voter wants Highland Park to leave DART.The total sales tax rate in Highland Park is 8.25% (8.25 cents) per dollar of taxable sales: 6.25% (6.25 cents) state rate,1% (1 cent) Town of Highland Park rate,1% (1 cent) Dallas Area Rapid Transit (“DART”) rate.DART has been built over more than 40 years into a regional web of interconnected transportation services that feed into each other. The Town of Highland Park has been a member of DART since 1983 and dedicates one cent of its local sales tax to support regional transit services. DART currently provides the Town with one bus route along Preston Road, GoLink on-demand microtransit service, and paratransit service (ADA-required transit service for people unable to use fixed-route systems). Each GoLink zone provides service to a rail station or transit center for connections to other DART services.Per DART, Highland Park’s riders in fiscal 2025:Bus 12,511GoLink rides 2,843Paratransit rides 111Total 15,465 The Town’s sales tax contribution to DART was approximately $8 million in 2025, which represents one half of one percent of DART’s total budget. Dart also collects fares from passengers.If voters choose to withdraw from DART, state law requires DART to immediately discontinue transit service within Highland Park, as soon as the day after the election. DART would then certify a calculation of Highland Park’s proportional share of its debt. Under Texas law, DART would continue to receive Highland Park’s 1% sales tax until the Town’s proportional share of outstanding debt is paid off, which current estimates show to be $30-40 million. The Town may have the option to pay its obligation through a lump-sum payment. Once the obligation is satisfied, the Town can ask voters to reauthorize the 1% sales tax for other authorized uses or it can discontinue it.Under Texas law, DART member cities may call a withdrawal election once every six years. If voters choose to not withdraw from DART, the earliest the Town could call another election to withdraw would be 2032.A number of enhancements have recently been instituted to entice cities to stay in DART including:1. DART approved a plan that, if approved by the Legislature, will cause DART to share part of its revenue with member cities. Under the plan the Town will receive back from DART 5% of the Town’s sales tax revenue in year one with an increase of 0.5% annually to a maximum of 7.5% in year six. However, the Town must execute the agreement by April 30 2026 and the plan must also be approved by the state legislature. The timing of this complicates matters as election day for voters is May 2 and early voting begins April 20.2. The Regional Transportation Council of the North Central Texas Council of Governments approved $75 million to fund transportation-related projects in DART member cities. 3. Recent changes will give the Town a seat by itself on the DART Board and the opportunity to make its opinions heard. Voting will be allocated by percent of population among the member cities with no one city having a majority of the voting power. Dallas is capped at 45% of the Board voting power. Historically, the Town has shared one DART Board representative with Addison, Richardson, and University Park.