Dallas leaders are under intense pressure to tell voters they support all 2024 bond proposals. If we don't, the PR firm we hire may even put our names on their recommendation list without our approval. Because it seems like the facts don't matter, only the appearance of a unanimous front.
However, I would like to divide the ranks and consider carefully which bonds your vote in the bond election will authorize the city to issue. You have the option to vote “yes” or “no” on 10 different proposals totaling $1.25 billion, or $1.76 billion including interest.
Simply put, a bond allows a city to borrow money, which must be repaid in full plus interest using property taxes. If we don't issue debt, property tax rates will go down. Many cities avoid bond elections on items like the ones at hand, and their bond costs are much lower. For example, Austin, San Antonio, and Fort Worth have had zero capital expenditures over the past five years, and all of these cities have less than $10 million in debt service in their annual budgets.
Dallas has made $155 million in capital investments over the past five years and paid more than $37 million in debt service in last year's budget. Houston has a million more people than Dallas, but its debt service last year was about $28 million, $9 million less than Dallas.
For too long, the city of Dallas has relied on debt to address basic maintenance and improvements, such as road repair and reconstruction, playgrounds, HVAC, traffic lights, roof replacements, or the renovation of aging buildings. I did. These items should be included in your annual budget by setting aside funds to replace them. That's not our business philosophy, so for now we have no choice but to finance these much-needed items with debt.
There are four propositions that are “easy” to support. Roads (Prop A), Parks (Prop B), Public Safety (Prop F), and Information Technology (Prop J).
Anyone who lives in Dallas knows that the roads are in terrible condition. Our parks need soccer fields, lighting, playgrounds, and essential upgrades to the development of parks that don't exist. Our police academy hinders our ability to teach modern policing and was built as an office space rather than a school. After decades of use, sweat and dirt have soaked into the carpet and mold has clearly developed, and reality-based and virtual training systems are set up in the unfinished space to train state-of-the-art police courses. However, training space is unfortunately lacking. in the history of the Dallas Police Department. Years of underinvestment in information technology have made IT proposals an absolute necessity. We would appreciate it if you could vote “yes'' on each of these proposals.
There are two suggestions that are worth the investment, but that I do not support. Simply put, there are other ways to pay for those costs without taking on debt or interest.
One is Housing (Prop H), which has no specific project and is aimed at supporting affordable housing production. We have more than a dozen housing development tools at our disposal that don't require us to directly tax residents. These include federal and state programs, city tax abatements, density bonuses, and access to the Dallas Housing Finance Corporation, which can issue bonds that are repaid with rent received on the units.
The second proposition is flooding (Proposition C). Again, this is an important issue, but there are other ways to pay for necessary flooding and erosion projects. Dallas Water Utility can issue revenue bonds, and you, along with everyone else who receives water bills, will pay for those projects through your bill. That way, all city residents who use Dallas' water services would be responsible for the cost.
And finally, there's the middle suggestion. This is called “resident selection.” These are for the arts, libraries, economic development, and homelessness prevention. All of this has value, but it could probably be paid for from the general fund if we took efficiency seriously and cut back on services that overlap with other government services.
You have probably received limited information about the project included in your proposal. This is because no formal public meeting has been held since the final draft. why? That's because the May election notification deadline was approaching, and the government had to either communicate with residents or move the election date forward.
As we have deepened our bond, I have consistently said the same thing. First of all, I would like to thank the members of the task force who volunteered their time and the residents who were involved. You played the best role in this process and came up with strong recommendations.
Second, the public debt is so large that improvements, replacements, alterations, and repairs must be paid for on a pay-as-you-go basis.
Third, the election date is wrong. Residents should not be asked to approve additional debt until there is a solid funding plan for police and fire pensions. This pension has an unfunded liability of $3.2 billion and could undermine the incredible work they are doing to reduce crime by sending police officers to other jobs. A pension funding plan should have been created before delivering the national debt to voters.
If either proposal fails, the city could put a new proposal on the November ballot for residents to review. By then, the pension funds will have been raised, and since the city charter election is already planned for November, it will cost almost nothing to hold the election.
We ask our elected officials to have the courage to say and do what they think is right, even if it's unpopular. So what I'm saying is that our city has a great need and we need to address it in a fiscally responsible way.
We encourage you to vote “Yes'' on Propositions A, B, F, and J, and respectfully “No'' on C and H (such as “City'' and “Hall''). By voting thoughtfully, you can make your voice heard on Dallas' future fiscal health, public safety needs, and the timing and size of the debt we take on with our property taxes.
Kara Mendelsohn represents District 12 on the Dallas City Council.
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