Big new items were added to the Dallas borrowing wish list this week, including an expansion at the Kay Bailey Hutcheson Convention Center and renovation at Fair Park.
"To make our city great we've got to do a combination of the little things and the big things," Mayor Mike Rawlings said.
The city borrows with bond referendums approved by voters to complete big capital improvements faster than they would be accomplished without large infusions of borrowed money. The wish list being prepared for a 2017 referendum was already very long.
To keep up with other cities, the Convention Center expansion request could be as high as $300 million. This week the Dallas City Council was asked to include as much as $175 million in 2017 to start renovating neglected Fair Park buildings.
Before those new items, $900 million in needed street improvement were identified. Risky real estate investments have left the Dallas Police and Fire Pension fund as much as $5 billion short on obligations. A $200 million infusion from bond money has been suggested by some to help shore up the pension gap.
In 2006, a Dallas record $1.35 billion bond issue was approved. In 2012, voters approved $642 million for street, flood control and economic development projects. Those referendums still left many Dallas problems unsolved.
A 2010 inventory included $13.4 billion in Dallas general fund and enterprise fund capital needs.
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City Council Member Philip Kingston said the current Dallas borrowing capacity is only about $1 billion.
"In a city this size it's strange how little a billion is but with a billion we could fix the streets, we could get close to fixing the traffic signals," Kingston said. "It's really irresponsible to spend money on the non-core stuff. We've got to get the basics right first."
Rawlings said many public meetings will be held to develop a list of projects for the next referendum and to decide how large it will be.
"We've got to consider, are we going to face these issues up front or are we going to kick them down the road? I'm not a kick it down the road sort of guy. That doesn't mean we've got enough money to do all these things," Rawlings said.
Dallas Independent School District voters approved a $1.6 billion capital improvement referendum this month. School officials said the borrowed money can be repaid without a property tax rate increase and the mayor said that is his priority for a 2017 city referendum.
"I don't want to have a tax increase," Rawlings said.
