The Dallas City Council is slated to finalize $1.25 billion dollars’ worth of bond propositions that Dallas voters could approve or reject — all or in part — as soon as early May.
What is essentially debt — to be paid back by taxpayers — will go to fund projects throughout the city. The proposed allocations include over $500 million for street infrastructure and repairs, more than $300 million for parks and recreation centers — and just over $100 million in total for housing.
And the council’s scheduled discussion comes after members overwhelmingly recommended to increase the bond capacity. What was originally a $1.1 billion dollar budget was increased to $1.25 billion.
Wednesday’s anticipated decision has been a long time in the making. The lead-up to the bond election included two different recommendations, months of Community Bond Task Force meetings — and a campaign for more parks funding by advocates including Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson.
The push for parks has spanned months. Johnson has prioritized making Dallas a leader in park centers nationwide during his reelection campaign last year.
During his State of the City address, Johnson again prioritized his stance on parks — claiming investing into the city’s greenspaces and recreation centers would be the key to Dallas’ success.
“Parks help us attract and keep families in Dallas,” Johnson said during the address last year. “When we’re smart about it, we get more bang for your buck with parks and trails and recreation centers than with anything else we do with your tax dollars.”
Along with using city platforms to emphasize parks — Johnson also changed the name of the former environmental sustainability committee to the Parks, Trails and the Environment Committee.
Before the deliberation process started, Dallas park department officials told members of the city council that there was a massive funding need. Some members at the time questioned the large allocation.
“How do we justify putting $400 million of a $1 billion dollar bond to parks?" District 1 Council Member Chad West said at a council briefing last year. "Why is this the biggest need of the city?”
City Hall insiders and some residents didn’t seem surprised when the 15-member Community Bond Task Force recommended spending nearly a third of the original $1.1 billion capacity on funding park and recreation spaces.
At least six Dallas Park board members also served on the bond task force — including the groups chair Arun Agarwal, who also serves as the president of the park board.
“I’m not here to lobby for any specific project, I’m not here to lobby for any specific subcommittee,” Agarwal said at a council meeting late last year.
Task force members have said in the past the goal was not to advocate for parks. Some council members have rationalized the heavy presence of park board members on the task force as a need for expert knowledge on greenspace and recreation centers.
“I’m one of them that did that, and I’ll say that I did it because I felt like my park board member reflected the priorities and clauses and understood not just my district but all of the districts,” District 12 Council Member Cara Mendelsohn said during a bond briefing late last year.
Dallas city staff’s recommendations have prioritized street repair and has tried to address the housing allocation.
Housing advocates — and some council members — have pushed back on the idea that more funding should go to the city’s park system.
"We have a citizen satisfaction survey and 12 of 14 districts had streets as number 1 of their concern. The other two had it as number two in their concerns," District 13 Council Member Gay Donnell Willis said during a January council meeting.
Ultimately the allocations will be decided on by Dallas voters either during a May election — which has been the prevailing assumption by staff and the council — or one in November along with choosing the next president of the United States.
The council is slated to finalize the ordinance calling for a bond election during Wednesday’s meeting.
Got a tip? Email Nathan Collins at ncollins@kera.org. You can follow Nathan on Twitter @nathannotforyou.
KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gifttoday. Thank you.
