<\/p>\n
City Council member Cara Mendelsohn asks a question to city staff during a Dallas City Council meeting on Wednesday, April 22, 2026, at Dallas City Hall.<\/p>\n
El\u00edas Valverde II\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
Dallas\u2019 public safety boosters are at odds over a $443 million bond election <\/a>to fund police and fire projects.\u00a0<\/p>\n One campaign is backed by council member Cara Mendelsohn and Save Dallas City Hall advocates, who are urging voters to reject the bond in order to save the I.M. Pei-designed building.\u00a0<\/p>\n Another effort, which is endorsed by the city\u2019s police and fire associations and a majority of the City Council, says City Hall and the bond are separate issues.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Early voting starts Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n The bond package will fund a new police academy; a tactical police training complex; a consolidated evidence room and crime lab; a new downtown fire station; and move 911 operations out of City Hall.\u00a0<\/p>\n Repaying the bond debt would cost more than $629 million over two decades amid debate about the city\u2019s finances and whether enough was done to secure public confidence in bond proposals.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mendelsohn\u2019s \u201cBust the Bond<\/a>\u201d campaign says the program is actually a veiled attempt to move city operations out of City Hall. The group has posted \u201cBust the Bond\u201d signs throughout the city and has pledged to give any excess money donated to the cause to the Save City Hall organization.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a \u2018move out of City Hall\u2019 bond dressed up like public safety,\u201d Mendelsohn said in a post advocating for voters to reject the package. She is listed as treasurer of the campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Mendelsohn said she would support a bond just for the police academy next year in May.\u00a0<\/p>\n But Dallas\u2019 largest police and firefighter associations say the funding could modernize several buildings that have gone years without repairs and maintenance.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen someone calls 911, every second counts. Modern facilities, as in the proposed New Station 4, reliable emergency communications, and properly equipped firefighters and paramedics are essential to saving lives,\u201d Dallas Fire Fighters Association President Chris Peterson said in an endorsement of the bond.<\/p>\n The bond two years ago<\/p>\n The November bond package comes two years after Dallas voters approved the city\u2019s request to take a $1.25 billion loan to do critical repairs to city-owned facilities, parks and streets. It included money for the Dallas Zoo\u2019s new safari trail, refurbishing Kalita Humphreys Theater and street maintenance projects.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Part of the bond put $50 million<\/a>\u00a0into a new policy academy at the University of North Texas at Dallas. The current police academy was meant to be a temporary solution when the city began renting the space in 1990.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n City officials estimated the project would cost $140 million and promised the bulk of the funding would come from private donors.\u00a0<\/p>\n But the plans didn\u2019t include a gun range and an outdoor emergency vehicle course \u2014 elements police officials say are essential for training.\u00a0<\/p>\n City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert has said the plans were made under the previous administration and said it\u2019s unclear how they came up with those figures.\u00a0<\/p>\n \nNew projects added\u00a0\n<\/p>\n The new bond proposal includes $82 million to fill the funding hole at the UNT Dallas-based academy. It also includes $149 million for a new training complex and gun range<\/a> at the Dallas Executive Airport.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The bond proposal also includes:\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n