Please address the statement that "Dallas city recently switched from twice a week trash pick up and every other week recycling pick up to once a week for each.  Resulting in 26 fewer pickups with no tax reduction.  Less service w/ same tax= tax increase."


Resonse:
Dallas is phasing in the Once-Weekly garbage and recycling service over several years.  In Year 1 (FY08), 10% of the households (23,159 actually) switched to Once-Weekly.  Next year is Year 2, and we anticipate adding another 35,000 households to the service change - bringing it to about 25% of the city.  Future phases will continue in ensuing years.

The change DOES decrease the collection events from 130 collections (at any one household each year) to 104 collection events - a decrease of 26 events.  The city DOES realize savings from this change of service.
However, because the service is billed on a full-cost-recovery basis to the resident, the savings is realized in the Sanitation Rate.  For FY09, the savings are translated into a 20-cent reduction in the SAN rate. (Other factors, such as fuel costs, will cause increases in the rate.) A net rate increase for FY09 is projected to be $1.45.

An additional 26-cent decrease is anticipated for FY10, due to the next phase of Once-Weekly.

Here's a link to the briefing to Dallas City Council on this topic: http://204.66.40.189/council_briefings/Briefings0808/once_weekly_service _082008.pdf

Also, to compare with other cities, check the attachment, which is an informal survey of various cities' service levels and rates - with expected increase in the rates for FY09.  Note that the final rates for many cities have not yet been determined - including Dallas.  Also - be careful to note which cities have once-a-week service, and which are
served in bags versus carts - as both those factors make a big difference in the cost of service ...

Hope this helps - let me know if you need more.


Mary Nix, Director

Sanitation Services - City of Dallas

Question #2: What is the City of Dallas doing to repair the pot hole on east-bound Rosemeade between Midway and Dallas Parkway that has been there for years?

Response: This is a blown joint in a concrete street.   It has been repaired with asphalt.    We are going to schedule it for more permanent repairs, which will take approximately 90 days.   We will keep it repaired with asphalt until concrete repairs can be made.

Question #1: Has the City of Dallas considered painting median curb markings on roads, particularly near median cuts, an d on street lines - especially to assist with left hand turns
at night?

 
Response:  We install reflective buttons in front of the median noses. We rarely paint curbs due to funding limitations.  We typically limit curb painting to problem areas with sharp curves or substandard lane transitions.

We have started to install yellow edgelines along the inside of the median lane.  This is on a limited basis due to budget constraints. 
 

Also, almost all of our thoroughfares have street lights in the medians spaced every 300 feet - this helps illuminate the median openings.

The Driver License Division of the Department of Public Safety has been working toward implementation of a Driver License Reengineering project. This effort is designed to replace an existing legacy system which can no longer be supported through today’s technology. This new driver license system eliminates the significant downtime experienced by customers due to antiquated and inoperable equipment and also allows the Department to streamline the driver license issuance processes.  To further enhance services provided to the public, the Department offers the opportunity for individuals to renew, change addresses, and obtain duplicate driver license and/or ID cards through the web at www.TexasOnline.com. 

Earlier this summer, the Driver License Division established a “Customer Service Initiative” working group to identify ways to remedy concerns expressed by the public about the driver license issuance process.  As the Department conducts approximately 5 million driver license transactions a year, the focus of this initiative is to not only provide solutions to ensure customers notice an improvement in the driver license issuance process, but to provide goals that would assist the Department in providing exemplary customer service through a long term effort. 

A recent recommendation by the Sunset Advisory Commission is to transform driver license services to a “civilian business model” with a goal to further streamline and enhance driver license services provided to the citizens of the state. The Department is currently reviewing their processes to facilitate migration to a business model that would ensure the citizens of the state20receive more efficient customer service. 

The Department is also seeking support from the Texas legislature to fund a number of these and other initiatives which, if appropriated will also have positive impact on the driver license process. The Department is committed to provide “exemplary” customer service to the citizens of this state at all times. 

 Judy E. Brown
Chief, Driver License Division
Texas Department of Public Safety

We received many comments about toll tag abuse. This is the first response we have and we want to share it with you. We will continue to post replys as we get them on this and other issues. Carry Rogers of NTTA reploied to us with this very informative response. It does appear that most of the people you see running the toll booths do get fined and pay the fine promptly.


IN REPLY - TO WHAT HAPPENS TO TOLL RUNNERS---

The NTTA collects tolls in order to finance the maintenance and operation of its innovative system of toll facilities. The vast majority of NTTA patrons comply by paying the appropriate toll either with their TollTag, in cash or by mail. For violators, the NTTA has an aggressive toll collection policy.

Once a vehicle is in violation of not paying the appropriate toll, the customer is sent a violation invoice and has 30 days to pay it pursuant to statute Chapter 366 of the State Transportation Code. The rate on the violation invoice is the cash rate plus an administrative fee per violation, to offset the additional cost of the processing and collection of the Tolls.

If the issue is not resolved, the NTTA may forward the unpaid transaction to the Department of Public Safety for the issuance of a citation for the failure to pay tolls.

Per Chapter 366 of the State Transportation Code, the court of the local jurisdiction in which the violation occurs may assess and collect the fine in addition to any court costs. The court shall insure the collection of the toll and appropriate administrative fee.

The NTTA will continue to work with our violators to come to a mutual agreement in which we recover all the outstanding tolls and a negotiated amount of administrative fees. We encourage anyone who owes the NTTA to contact our customer service representatives at (972) 818-NTTA (6882) in order to arrange payment of the outstanding balance.

EXPLANATION OF PERCENTAGES OF COLLECTIONS OF TOLLS---

Our numbers indicate, of those that do not pay at the time of the transaction and identified as violators; 83% pay during the subsequent collection processes. 

To be clear, approximately 80% of our transactions are paid through an active tolltag account. 13% are paid in the lane using cash.

Approximately 1% are identified as non-revenue (includes NTTA employees, Police, Fire Department, etc). The above number is applied to the remaining 6% of the transactions

Representative Jerry Madden Constituent Survey:
	YES	NO	UNDECIDED	TOTALS
All voters shoul have to show photo identification at the polling place prior to being allowed to vote.	422	47	23	492
There should be a gas tax holiday in Texas.	126	304	62	492
The state gasoline tax should be indexed to the rate of inflation	145	211	136	492
We should eliminate "sanctuary cities" where immigration status of someone arrested is not checked by law enforcement.	418	54	20	492
We should require counties to check the immigration status of all individuals charge with a felony.	462	22	8	492
The current 8.25% sales tax cap precludes some communities from participating in DART. We should raise the 8.25% sales tax cap to 9.25% to allow those non-Dart cities to become part of the DART system.	143	284	65	492
Plano, Richardson and Dallas are all part of DART. They should be allowed to raise the current 8.25% sales tax cap to 9.25% for non-transit programs to match the economic advantages those cities that could join DART would have in attracting business and doing infrastructure building and repair.	101	320	71	492
Texas should adopt more stringent auto emission standards like those of California.	211	237	44	492
Home Tax appraisal increases should be capped at 5% per year	264	142	86	492
Instead of a 5% cap on home tax appraisal increases a cap should be placed at 3%	260	132	100	492
We should place a spending cap (commonly called a revenue cap) on all cities, counties and other entities at 5% per year plus growth and inflation and excluding specific federal and state grants.	214	117	161	492
We should continue to elect judges in partisan elections.	276	142	74	492
Autistic children should be given state vouchers and allowed to attend any school of their choice.	200	172	120	492
We should support the building of a fence on our southern border.	261	185	46	492
The Texas Youth Commission should be remodeled so that instead of larger state facilities mostly rural for these young law violators we should have smaller facilities closer to their homes.	200	164	128	492
Since we have a large budget surplus the priority for its use should be additional property tax reductions.	291	126	75	492
The current top ten percent rule allowing automatic admission to state universities for all students from every school district that graduate from high school in the top 10% of their class should be repealed.	209	211	72	492
Casinos should be allowed in Texas.	219	238	35	492
Casinos should be allowed in Collin County.	184	268	40	492
Smoking should be banned from all business spaces in Texas.	323	131	38	492

We appreciate your taking the time to fill out our survey. Your opinions and your input are important to us. If you have any other issues you would like us to address please let us know.

How can I and my staff do a better job for you?

Is there any law that you want to see either eliminated or changed? If you want a law changed what changes do you recommend? Would you be willing to come to Austin to testify if I sponsored such a bill?

What is your biggest problem with the State of Texas.