Dallas Prop A: Where the $443M Public Safety Bond Would Go

Dallas voters will see one city bond question on the Nov. 3 ballot: Dallas Prop A, a $443 million general obligation bond for police, fire and emergency services buildings. The city secretary published the formal notice of election on Oct. 4, and the city’s own fact sheet splits the money among five projects, only one of which has a finished design.

The ballot language puts the estimated repayment, principal plus interest, at $629,618,180 over a term of no more than 20 years. It also carries the phrase “THIS IS A TAX INCREASE,” which state law requires on bond propositions. The city’s 2026 Bond Package fact sheet says Dallas’s tax rate will not increase because of this bond program.

Where the Dallas Prop A money would go

• Law Enforcement Training Center: $82 million
• Public Safety Training Complex: $149 million
• Police property room, evidentiary vehicle storage and crime lab: $150 million
• Emergency Operations Center and 911 facility: $40 million
• Fire Station No. 4 replacement: $22 million

Those five lines add up to exactly $443 million. Two of them, the training complex and the property room and crime lab, account for $299 million, or about two-thirds of the request.

Project status, line by line

The fact sheet describes each project’s stage. Read together, those descriptions show how much of the package is still early.

The Law Enforcement Training Center is the furthest along. The facility on the UNT Dallas campus replaces the academic portion of the Dallas Police Department academy. Its total cost is $227 million, and the city counts $145 million already identified: $50 million from the 2024 bond program, $25 million in state grants, $31.5 million in committed private funds and $38.5 million in expected private donations. Design is complete, and groundbreaking was Sept. 3, 2026. Proposition A would supply the final $82 million. Worth noting: the $38.5 million in donations is described as expected, not committed.

For the Public Safety Training Complex, the city proposes a training site of more than 60 acres at Dallas Executive Airport for the advanced, scenario-based field training recruits need to finish the academy. The total funding need is $170 million, with $149 million from Proposition A. The project is in programming, and design has not started. The fact sheet does not say where the remaining $21 million would come from.

The property room, vehicle storage and crime lab project would put police property and evidence storage, the forensic crime lab and secure evidence vehicle storage in one building. The estimate is $150 million on a city-owned site or $232 million at an alternate site in Dallas. Proposition A would provide $150 million, and city staff are still doing due diligence on a possible site.

For the Emergency Operations Center and 911 project, the city would relocate, renovate and equip an existing city-owned building for its emergency operations center and 911 call center. The estimated cost is $40 million, and site selection is in progress. FOX 4 reported in August that both functions now sit in the basement of City Hall.

Fire Station No. 4 has been in service since 1953. Its $22 million replacement would have five apparatus bays, and a new site still has to be identified.

The debt Dallas already carries

Ordinance No. 33494, which calls the election, lists the city’s outstanding tax-supported debt at $2,798,343,583 in principal and $1,217,156,289 in interest as of the ordinance’s effective date. It cites a total tax rate of $0.6988 per $100 for the fiscal year then underway, made up of $0.5075 for operations and $0.1913 for debt service, on a 2025 taxable value of about $245.5 billion.

That debt service slice is where new bond payments land. The city’s position is that Proposition A fits inside it. The council also trimmed the overall rate for the new fiscal year, as Never Late News reported in its look at Dallas’s $5.66 billion FY2026-27 budget and 69.78-cent tax rate.

Using the ordinance’s own figures, interest and other financing costs would make up about $186.6 million of the $629.6 million repayment, or roughly 42 cents on top of every dollar borrowed.

What did not make the ballot

Proposition A is narrower than the package the council debated this summer. FOX 4 reported that on Aug. 12, council members rejected a $500 million pension obligation bond tied to the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System and a $17 million fleet maintenance proposal, and that a $100 million City Hall repair measure failed on a 7-8 vote. The fact sheet notes Proposition A is a new authorization, separate from the $1.25 billion, 10-proposition bond program voters approved in 2024.

The takeaway for voters

Bond measures sold with a no-rate-increase promise are common this fall. Fort Worth framed its $511.5 million streets bond inside a static debt rate, and Never Late News has tracked Dallas ISD’s $6.2 billion Bond 2026 program as it moves into campus design.

What stands out in Dallas Prop A is how much of the request depends on projects without a final site or design. Three of the five, worth $212 million together, still need a site picked: the property room and crime lab, the 911 and emergency operations center, and Fire Station No. 4. The training complex has land but no design. Only the training center at UNT Dallas is shovel-ready, and it is also the project leaning on private donations that have not yet arrived.

Before you vote

The city says voter information documents will be posted on its website beginning Oct. 13, with project fact sheets and an FAQ at DallasBond.com. Today, Oct. 5, is the deadline to register. Early voting runs Oct. 19 through Oct. 30, and Election Day is Nov. 3.

How Never Late News reported this

This explainer is based on the City of Dallas notice of bond election, given Oct. 4, 2026, by City Secretary Bilierae Johnson, which reproduces Ordinance No. 33494 with the ballot language, the $629,618,180 repayment estimate, the 20-year maximum term, the city’s outstanding debt and its tax rate (notice posted by Collin County). Project amounts, costs, funding sources, status and the no-rate-increase statement come from the city’s 2026 Bond Package fact sheet. The two-thirds share, the $212 million in projects without a selected site, the $21 million gap on the training complex and the interest-per-dollar figure are Never Late News calculations from those documents. Details of the Aug. 12 council votes and the City Hall basement location come from FOX 4’s report. No interviews were conducted for this report. To report an error, email editor@neverlatenews.com.