Dallas voters will have to approve the $1.25B bond package, Dallas City Council decided
Dallas, Texas – The Dallas City Council had a final discussion about dividing a $1.25 billion bond. It’s up to the voters to decide if they want it.
The council, with a vote of 14 to 1, agreed to let voters make the choice this May. Most of the bond money will be spent on improving roads and parks. They decided to give more money than originally planned, boosting funds for roads from $500 million to $521 million and for parks from $310 million to $345 million.
The bond money to be used for various projects
This bond will also help pay for libraries, homes, business growth, shelters for the homeless, flood defense, a new police training center, and places for performing arts. They’re also thinking about using $5 million to make the city’s IT better. Before they settled on what the bond would cover, Councilman Adam Bazaldua suggested spending $28 million on fixing the old city hall, which sparked a big discussion.
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“Every time the temperature falls or rises, I get phone calls from the council and hundreds in building about HVAC,” said Dallas City Manager TC Broadnax, as reported by FOX4.
“Never once was I told we have this huge problem at city hall, and we need to fund it,” said Councilwoman Cara Mendelsohn. “I would have encouraged you fund it in other ways.”
“Hearing a lot of excuses of why we should kick can down the road. I was not elected to keep the status quo,” Bazaldua said.
Ultimately, Bazaldua was the only one who voted against the bond because it didn’t include funds for city hall. Only two other council members supported his idea.
Back in October, leaders of the Dallas Police & Fire Association had asked the council to consider bond money to address a $1.5 billion pension issue, but this suggestion didn’t go anywhere.
The vote on this bond will take place on Saturday, May 4.
