Dallas Approves $443 Million Public Safety Bond Package for Voter Approval in November | Taxes & Spending

Residents of Dallas will again be asked to approve a $443 million public safety bond package in November, just two years after they approved a $1.25 billion bond package.

The city council was presented with a nearly $1 billion package by the city staff, but only the $443 million proposal for public safety passed by a vote of 11 to 4. 

The package includes $82 million in additional funding for the new Dallas Police Academy, which is being added to the $50 million approved for the same purpose in 2024. Dallas City Manager Kimberly Tolbert told the city council that she couldn’t find any justification for the $50 million figure that was in the 2024 bond package, except, “that’s just all we could ask for.”

City officials said they plan to break ground on the training facility in September, with the opening expected in 2028.

“There is strong momentum moving this project forward, and once it is finished, our City will realize enormous benefits, such as improved police recruiting and a police force trained in state-of-the-art operations,” Tolbert said in a press release in April. “The new training curriculum, developed in partnership with [the University of North Texas at Dallas (UNT Dallas)], will ensure that our officers are skilled in community policing, as well as effective crime reduction methods.”  

The public safety bond package would also include funds to upgrade the police property room, crime lab, and evidence vehicle storage facility. The funds would also be used to relocate the Dallas 9-1-1 emergency operations out of the current city hall.

“The Dallas City Council took an important step on Wednesday to strengthen public safety by focusing our upcoming bond package solely on critical public safety infrastructure. The November 3, 2026 bond election will ask voters to close the remaining funding gap for the Law Enforcement Training Center at [UNT Dallas], ensuring the total project delivery remains on schedule,” Tolbert said after the vote, according to Fox 4. 

She added that “this modern academy will provide state-of-the-art training for Dallas police and our regional partners, reflecting our commitment to safer, stronger neighborhoods.”

Dallas City Council Member Cara Mendelsohn (Dist. 12) believes the bond proposal is “dead on arrival.”

She wanted to separate the Law Enforcement Training Academy into a separate bond proposition, but her motion failed. 

“[I]t’s written as a blank check and you have no assurance the dollars will be spent on what you’re being told,” Mendelsohn wrote on social media.

The Dallas city staff also proposed $500 million in pension obligation bonds to fund the Dallas police and fire pension fund, but that measure failed too. 

The police and fire pension fund has been facing a problematic future and unfunded obligations dating back to 2016. 

In December 2025, the Dallas City Council approved a funding agreement to help secure the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System (DPFPS). 

The Texas Pension Review Board and state law require that the city fully fund its pension system in 30 years.

The funding agreement met that requirement and includes a modest stipend for retirees, in addition to their monthly benefits, to help offset cost-of-living increases. It will require $11 billion in funding from the city over the next 30 years.

The $500 million pension obligation bonds, if approved, were meant to relieve some of the pension obligations from the city’s general fund. Pension obligation bonds are taxable bonds issued by local governments to use debt to fund some of their unfunded pension liabilities.

“The use of [pension obligation bonds] rests on the assumption that the bond proceeds, when invested with pension assets in higher-yielding asset classes, will be able to achieve a rate of return that is greater than the interest rate owed over the term of the bonds,” the Government Finance Officers Association explained on its website.

Michael Taglienti, chairman of the DPFPS Board of Trustees, opposed the $500 million pension package.

“The city should not consider pension obligation bonds at [more than 6] percent. It is too expensive, and I do not trust the current city leadership to give the $500 million to the DPFP as an addition to the pension plan in place,” he wrote on social media.

The bond package comes amid budget shortfalls. In July, Dallas announced mandatory furloughs for non-uniformed city workers to mitigate the shortfall.

Two more furlough days are expected on September 4 and September 28.