The city of Dallas is running into some real financial trouble that ought to worry all of us. As Dallas goes, so goes the region, and the fact that the city has opened up a $33 million budget gap at this point in the fiscal year is a troubling signal for what’s to come.
But we aren’t getting the kind of leadership we need from a mayor with a fiscal storm brewing.
Over the weekend, Mayor Eric Johnson led the way he so often does, via newsletter. In it, he pumped himself up with praise as a fiscal steward while deriding his council colleagues for “paying lip service” to the budget.
There is truth in what he said. Johnson has called for the city to live within its means and has voted in favor of tough calls like consolidating a few library branches to save money and provide more efficient service.
A majority of the council has blinked at efforts to save taxpayers money and seems unable to accept the reality that most people don’t use services like libraries the way they once did.
The problem is not Johnson’s guiding philosophy; it’s the way he leads.
Recall that in 2020, Johnson advertised his saving plan as “defunding the bureaucracy” — an in-your-face plan that he set up as an answer to wrongheaded efforts to reduce Dallas police funding.
Six years later, it’s not clear that the mayor has learned how to lead the council or city staff any better than with direct confrontation via letter.
Serious leadership requires sitting down face to face with colleagues and staff to come up with ideas that can win majority approval. It’s the hard work of give-and-take that is about governing, not politics.
Dallas’ weak mayor system relies on someone who can lead with persuasion and who wins on ideas.
Firing off newsletters about how much you’ve done while tearing down the council is a straight path to zero. And that’s where Johnson’s newsletter puts him in terms of real influence.
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