DALLAS — The mayors of Texas’ biggest cities are asking the Legislature to put its money where its people are: in the cities.

The mayors want a bill that will allow them to impose new fees and taxes to pay for transportation projects, $25 million to deal with mental health issues related to homelessness, and more efforts to promote clean air and renewable energy.

"This is bread-and-butter services for our citizens," Houston Mayor Bill White said, after meeting at Dallas City Hall with Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert, Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief, Austin Mayor Will Wynn, El Paso Mayor John Cook and Denton Mayor Mark Burroughs.

The transportation bill is at the top of the list in Dallas and Fort Worth. "The No. 1 concern of everyone up here, if I took a poll, they’re going to say 'roads,’ " Moncrief said. "Rail is the future people mover."

Two years ago, the Legislature turned down a plan to pay for rail in the Metroplex with a new sales tax. The latest plan would allow cities to choose from a list of fees.

Having the backing of the Houston and Austin mayors should strengthen the bill’s chances during the current Legislature, Moncrief and Leppert said.

Likewise, the mayors hope that the Legislature will listen to them on funding to deal with homelessness, which is closely connected to a lack of mental health services. The state has cut funding for mental health services, which has pushed the problem onto local communities, White said.

"The issue of homelessness is not just a humanitarian issue; it’s a matter of saving dollars and cents we now spend on jails, emergency rooms" and other services, White said. "Our law enforcement constantly has to make decisions that should be made by social workers."

Together, the mayors of the six cities represent more than a fifth of all Texans, and they’re at the core of metro areas that make up more than half the state’s population.

"We’ve gone from being a rural state to one now where the majority of the economy is in metro areas," Leppert said.