City Departments Square Off Against Police And Fire For November 2024 Bond Election Funds
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The chess game over how to divide up $1.1 billion among all of Dallas’ capital needs continues, as the 2024 bond election approaches and the deadline for task force recommendations is less than two months away.
Bond town hall meetings began in late September and will continue through Oct. 19.
The needs far outweigh the amount of funding available, and while it looks promising that housing advocates could get the $200 million they’re asking for, “there’s going to be a struggle between parks and everything else,” District 1 Councilman Chad West told CandysDirt.com. “[Parks advocates] want $400 million. Parks were funded heavily last time and I was a part of that initiative. Everybody in my district wants parks, but we pushed back on our critical facilities last time. We funded our roads and streets, but we need to do that again.”
The man appointed by Mayor Eric Johnson to lead the 2024 Community Bond Task Force is Arun Agarwal, who also serves as president of the city’s Park and Recreation board.
“Arun Agarwal has proven to be an effective and engaged leader in our city, and I am confident he will advocate for the right priorities for the people of Dallas on this task force,” Johnson said when the appointment was made.
Agarwal, who could not be reached for comment on this story, said in an email to city officials that chairing the task force has been a great honor.
“Problems and needs are complex and solutions need creative thinking,” Agarwal wrote.
The CBTF subcommittees posted dozens of recommended projects on an interactive map.
Parks vs. Housing vs. Everything Else
Prior to the installation of subcommittees and the news that the city had a capacity for $1.1 billion rather than just $1 billion, Dallas staff presented a framework for the bond with the following possible scenarios:
- $400 million for streets
- $150 million for parks and recreation
- $50 million for transportation
- $50 million for flood protection, storm drainage, and erosion control
- $80 million for housing infrastructure
- $30 million for economic development
- $85 million for public safety facilities (police and fire)
- $50 million for cultural and performing arts facilities
- $25 million for city facilities
- $35 million for library facilities
- $20 million for homeless assistance facilities
- $25 million for information technology
Parks advocates have said they want a bigger piece of the pie, and there’s a battle during every bond election cycle to divvy up the funding based on equity.
“I’d like to see the city management come in and make a recommendation,” Councilman West said. “Right now, the departments are pitted against each other. It would be nice if someone — the city manager, the CFO, the head of the bond process, Dr. [Robert] Perez — would say, ‘This is what came out. Staff does or does not support this.’”
Advocates with the Dallas Housing Coalition have asked for $200 million.
Ashley Brundage, co-founder of DHC and a member of the CBTF’s Housing, Economic Development, and Homeless Solutions subcommittee, told CandysDirt.com on Thursday that the subcommittee on which she serves is not pitting one category against another.
“We feel there is enough room in a $1.1 billion dollar bond for everyone to get an impactful amount of funding,” she said. “We are asking for less than 20 percent of the entire bond for housing. We know how important parks and streets are to a thriving community and maintenance of those parks and streets is important. However, if we do not start to address the housing crisis in this city, the new parks and streets will quickly gentrify and displace many community members and much of our workforce.”
Brundage said the housing subcommittee worked well together to develop final recommendations for $200 million for affordable housing, $35 million for homeless solutions, and $40 million for economic development.
The Dallas Housing Coalition has more than 180 members supporting those requests, Brundage said.
“We truly believe that we have widespread support from the community in this effort,” she said. “Our biggest obstacle will be the Bond Task Force moving forward with our recommendations. We believe we have good support from many City Council members, but the task force has quite a few supporters for Parks on it.”
Election Day
The 2024 bond was originally presented with a timeline that included a recommendation from the CBTF in December of this year and an election in May 2024.
Council members raised concerns about the bond election date during an August council meeting. The city is working out whether it should seek voter approval for general obligation bonds to cover a $3 billion deficit in the police and fire pension fund and they ought to have some answers around that matter before a capital improvements bond is placed on a ballot, council members argued.
An Oct. 2 letter from Jim McDade, president of the Dallas Fire Fighters Association, supports postponing the election to November 2024.
“A delay from May 2024 to November 2024 is only six months and a big benefit could be achieved in waiting until November,” McDade wrote. “Dallas’ current bond rating is impacted by the looming pension issues. If the pension committee devises a plan for funding that does not affect the Dallas general fund budget, it is conceivable that Dallas’ bond rating would improve, thereby increasing the available debt capacity beyond $1.5 billion. This would allow for a larger general obligation bond proposition in November 2024 if the committee and city council desired.”
An identical letter was issued by the Dallas Police Association the following day.
City Manager T.C. Broadnax issued a memo Friday addressing a “false narrative that the City Council must choose between having a General Obligation Bond election in May 2024 or addressing the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System (DPFP) unfunded liability.”
“This is not an either-or decision,” Broadnax said in the memorandum. “I am committed to
both protecting the pension benefits of our first responders as well as addressing the infrastructure needs that our residents demand and deserve.”
