Dallas voters rejected a $443 million public-safety bond Tuesday, breaking a nearly five-decade record of successful City of Dallas general obligation bond propositions. The vote leaves the city to reconsider financing for police training, evidence storage, emergency operations, and fire facilities, according to the city’s proposal and its municipal archives.
The November 3 ballot also carried a separate Dallas County Proposition A seeking a higher property tax rate for homelessness-related programs. That county proposal was also trailing in Wednesday morning returns. Neither result had been officially canvassed; the canvass does not constitute another public vote.
First City Bond Proposition Rejected Since 1978
The city’s municipal archives identify June 10, 1978, as the last recorded election in which voters rejected any City of Dallas bond propositions. Four of 17 proposals failed that year, covering the Trinity River Greenbelt, cultural facilities, floodway levees, and convention center expansion. The other 13 passed.
Subsequent city bond elections recorded in the archive (including 1998, 2003, and 2024) passed their propositions. In 1998, voters approved all 11 measures, a distinction important to the 48-year comparison.
In the November 2026 election, voters could not approve individual projects separately. All five appeared in a single $443 million bond question.
Mendelsohn Questions Process At DX Election-Night Event
Dallas City Council Member Cara Mendelsohn (District 12) spoke at an election-night gathering hosted by The Dallas Express Tuesday, before all election results had been reported. She questioned previous handling of police academy bond funding.
“This is actually the fifth time voters are voting on a police academy. And the first three times that money was redirected,” Mendelsohn told The Dallas Express. She added that the academy money approved in 2024 was being used appropriately.
“There wasn’t meaningful public input, so we didn’t put together a commission, we didn’t have meetings out in the community. There wasn’t a clear plan. And then, there was the ‘poison pill,’ which is, they dumped all the projects together, including moving the 911 center out of Dallas City Hall, which really would be that first step of abandoning that building and demolishing it, and moving somewhere else. And that’s just completely unacceptable,” she told The Dallas Express.
Mendelsohn characterized the proposed relocation as an attempt to override a petition effort to preserve City Hall.
“People are not rejecting public safety; they are just demanding a better plan,” Mendelsohn said. She previously argued in an October 25 The Dallas Express column that the projects should have been put before voters separately.
What The Rejected Bond Would Have Financed
Proposition A was a general obligation bond proposal: voter authorization for the city to borrow money for capital projects and repay principal and interest over time. The city’s official breakdown identified these requests:
- $150 million for police evidence and vehicle storage and a crime lab.
- $149 million for a public-safety training complex near Dallas Executive Airport.
- $82 million for the Law Enforcement Training Center at the University of North Texas at Dallas.
- $40 million for an emergency operations and 911 facility.
- $22 million to replace Fire Station No. 4.
The city estimated $629,618,180 in total repayment over no more than 20 years. Subtracting the $443 million principal yields approximately $186.6 million in estimated interest, subject to market conditions. The ballot stated “THIS IS A TAX INCREASE,” as required by state law, although city officials said they did not anticipate a property tax rate increase specifically attributable to the bond, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
An election-night FOX 4 report showed approximately 56% opposition at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, but only 1% of precincts were reporting at that time. That snapshot is not a final citywide vote percentage.
Academy Funding And Police Staffing Remain Separate Questions
The city estimates the UNT Dallas police training center will cost $227 million. Its funding plan lists $50 million from the 2024 bond, $25 million in state grants, $31.5 million in committed private contributions, and $38.5 million in expected private donations. The rejected measure sought the remaining $82 million. Earlier authorized funding does not automatically disappear because the new bond failed; expected donations are not the same as received funds.
On October 28, council members approved additional grants and construction-related actions for the academy, as The Dallas Express reported. That coverage also documented 3,410 sworn Dallas police officers in September, below the 4,000-officer minimum adopted through the separate 2024 Proposition U charter amendment. The amendment concerns staffing; the defeated bond concerned construction.
Supporters Cited Training And Emergency Readiness
Mayor Eric Johnson supported the bond, arguing that modern facilities were needed for public-safety readiness, recruiting, and training. In a pre-election The Dallas Express interview, Johnson said, “We want Dallas residents to feel like they are in the safest big city in the country. And it takes facilities to do that.”
County Proposition A Also Trailed; Canvass Still Ahead
Dallas County’s separate Proposition A sought approval of a tax rate of $0.248650 per $100 of taxable value, 2.4 cents above the county’s voter-approval rate. The county projected approximately $102.9 million in additional annual funding for homelessness-related programs. The county measure was trailing with 80% of precincts reporting, according to a November 4 Fox account. The county outcome remained unofficial pending canvassing.
The city bond and the county tax measure were distinct elections. The canvass formally establishes their official results. The city’s election page had not posted a final canvassed result as of Wednesday morning time of publication.
The Bust the Bond campaign declared victory and said it would pursue a revised proposal in 2027, including a separate police academy measure with spending restrictions, as The Dallas Express reported early Wednesday. No replacement bond election has been formally scheduled.
Provided by Dallas Express
