Parks Bond Funds Increase as Council Members Pledge Millions in ‘Discretionary Funds’ 

The 2024 bond propositions that will appear on a May 4 ballot didn’t shake out favorably for every advocacy group, but a $75 million pot of “discretionary funds” — $5 million for the mayor and each council member to allocate as they wish — means the numbers informally approved at Wednesday’s council meeting can still increase. 

Dallas Council Moves Forward With $310.5M For Parks, $61M For Housing in May 4 Bond Election

Immediately following Wednesday’s special-called Dallas City Council briefing on the bond, District 12 Councilwoman Cara Mendelsohn pledged her $5 million to parks and recreation. 

Mayor Eric Johnson filed a memorandum Thursday also pledging his $5 million to parks. 

“I am confident this $5 million addition to the bond will help make Dallas greener and greater by providing improved access to quality, well-maintained recreational spaces across our city,” Johnson wrote in his memo. “In the coming days, I plan to work with members of our Park Board to determine more specifically how this funding can be applied to project(s) that were previously identified as top priorities by the Park and Recreation Department and by the public through the Community Bond Task Force.” 

A full recap of council discretionary funds was posted Friday afternoon in a memorandum from Assistant City Manager Robert Perez. More discussion on the topic is planned at Wednesday’s Dallas City Council meeting.

Council Members Weigh in on ‘Discretionary Funds’

District 13 Councilwoman Gay Donnell Willis said she did not support the amendment adding “discretionary” or council-directed funds “because it took from or zeroed out some critical need areas.”

“I realize that some may figure the City can cover these items in the general fund budget, however, there are some big-ticket items that I think are more appropriate for a bond — such as fire suppression, HVAC, and generators for City Hall,” Willis told CandysDirt.com.

The bond allocations informally approved at the Jan. 31 meeting offered nothing for upgrades at City Hall. Emergency 911 calls and the non-emergency 311 call center are based on site, Willis pointed out.

“We must ensure support for these critical public-facing functions of the City,” she said. “We must also have a safe environment for the thousands who work on site.”

Council Informally Agrees to Increase Bond Capacity to $1.25 Billion, May Election Date

The councilwoman added that she didn’t think it was appropriate to “raid the homelessness line item.”

“City staff and this council have learned from the 2017 bond allocation better ways to deploy funds that can get into the marketplace more quickly,” she said. “I just toured some successful ‘tiny home’ temporary housing models that I favor the City moving on quickly.  We’ve got to stop treating our underpasses and streets as waiting rooms while outreach teams work to move this compromised population into stable permanent housing.”

Willis ultimately decided to allocate her discretionary funds as follows: $3.55 million for streets/alleys/sidewalks, $1 million for homelessness, and $450,000 for parks.

“The amendment that we are currently operating under has a $500 million allocation for streets, which I was beyond vocal (some would say downright annoying) in getting back to as it had been proposed at $375 million by the 2024 Community Bond Task Force,” she said. “District 13 has $550 million in the streets/alleys needs inventory alone.”

And while the parks allocation is now up to $310 million at the expense of some other categories, some signature projects take up a chunk of that number, so D13 does not have as much representation in that area, Willis said.

“As such, I’ve added some funds to help replace aging equipment that may still need some private funds to make happen,” she said.

District 1 Councilman Chad West opted to allocate smaller amounts to several funding categories, pledging $2 million to economic development, $1.5 million to streets and traffic calming, $1 million to homelessness, and $500,000 to parks. 

CandysDirt.com has reached out to all the Dallas City Council members for their discretionary bond allocations and will update this story as more information becomes available. 

A $1.25 billion bond election is tentatively scheduled for May 4.