Dallas, Texas, Fair Park Bond Issue, Proposition C (November 2017)
| Proposition C: Dallas Fair Park Bond Issue |
|---|
|
| The basics |
| Election date: |
| November 7, 2017 |
| Status: |
 Approved
|
| Topic: |
| City bonds |
| Related articles |
| City bonds on the ballot November 7, 2017 ballot measures in Texas Dallas County, Texas ballot measures |
| See also |
| Dallas, Texas |
A bond issue proposition to fund the improvement of Fair Park, Proposition C, was on the ballot for Dallas voters in Dallas County, Texas, on November 7, 2017. It was approved.
| A yes vote was a vote in favor of authorizing the city to issue $50 million in general obligation bonds—a type of government debt— to fund the improvement of Fair Park facilities. |
| A no vote was a vote against authorizing the city to issue $50 million in general obligation bonds—a type of government debt— to fund the improvement of Fair Park facilities. |
The bonds must be repaid within 20 years. The total repayment amount for Proposition C bonds—principal and interest—was estimated at $67,781,500.[1]
Election results
| Proposition C | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
| Yes | 31,864 | 64.77% | ||
| No | 17,333 | 35.23% | ||
- Election results from Dallas County Elections Office
Overview
Projects proposed by Proposition C include repairs to the Hall of State, Music Hall, African American Museum, Texas Discovery Gardens, Food and Fiber Building, Coliseum, Tower Building, Centennial Building, Pan American Complex, Science Place, Aquarium Annex, and Magnolia Lounge. More information on project specifics can be found here.[2]
Text of measure
Ballot title
The following is the bond issue proposition title:[1]
| “ |
THE ISSUANCE OF $50,000,000 GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS FOR FAIR PARK IMPROVEMENTS, THE ESTIMATED AMOUNT OF REPAYMENT, INCLUDING PRINCIPAL AND INTEREST BASED ON CURRENT MARKET CONDITIONS BEING $67,781,500.[3] |
” |
Ballot question
The following is the ballot proposition language:[1]
| “ |
Shall the city council of the city of Dallas, Texas be authorized to issue general obligation bonds in the aggregate principal amount of $50,000,000 for the purpose of providing funds for permanent public improvements; to-wit: planning, designing, constructing, renovating, repairing, replacing, improving, expanding, and equipping facilities to Fair Park, including open space and recreational facilities, and; said bonds to mature serially over a period not to exceed twenty (20) years from their date, to be issued in such installments and sold at any price pr prices and to bear interest at any rate or rates as shall be determined within the discretion of the city council under laws in effect at the time of issuance and to provide for the payment off the principal and interest on said bonds by levying a tax sufficient to pay the annual interest on and to create a sinking fund sufficient to redeem said bonds as they become due, where $67,781,500 is the estimated amount of repayment, including principal and interest, based on current market conditions?[3] |
” |
Support
The Dallas Bond Campaign led the support of the 10 bond proposals on the ballot in 2017.[4]
Supporters
Officials
- Tom Leppert, former Dallas mayor
- Laura Miller, former Dallas mayor
- Ron Kirk, former Dallas mayor
- Lee M. Kleinman, Dallas City Council member[5]
Organizations
- AIA Dallas
- African American Museum, Dallas
- American Heart Association
- BikeTexas
- Circuit Trail Conservancy
- Dallas Area Cultural Advocacy Coalition
- Dallas Arts District
- Dallas Black Chamber of Commerce
- Dallas Citizens Council
- Dallas Parks Foundation
- Dallas Regional Chamber
- Dallas Summer Musicals
- Friends of Dallas Parks
- Friends of Fair Park
- Greater Dallas Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
- Greater Dallas Planning Council
- Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance
- North Dallas Chamber
- Regional Black Contractors Association
- Regional Hispanic Contractors Association
- Southeast Dallas Hispanic Chamber
- State Fair of Texas
- Stonewall Democrats of Dallas
- Texas Discovery Gardens
- The Real Estate Council
Media
- Dallas Morning News said: "Too often, the city has shorted Fair Park on its maintenance needs, resulting in a monument teetering on the edge of becoming a cracked-open, falling-apart and often-flooded mess. Even more tragic, this is happening at a location with perhaps the biggest potential to lift the South Dallas neighborhoods that surround it. It's time to reverse this indifferent oversight and begin to repair and preserve these buildings, many of them constructed during the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition. That's why this newspaper recommends a "yes" vote on the city of Dallas Proposition C, which would allocate $50 million in bonds for the repair and rehabilitation of Fair Park facilities."[6]
Opposition
Arguments against
Opponents made the following arguments in opposition to the bond package:[7]
- The language for some of the 10 bond propositions is vague which gives too much room for city officials to use the bond money for something other than what was listed.
- Some opponents of the bond package argue that Dallas should not borrow money for road maintenance.
- Some opponents argue that organizations charged with managing Fair Park and other private-public partnerships are poorly run.
Background
At the beginning of the city's fiscal year, which was October 1, 2017, the city carried an aggregate amount of $1,632,595,997 in tax-supported debt obligations, with $1,007,772,469 in outstanding interest. Prior to the election, the ad valorem tax rate was 78.25 cents per $100 in valuation, with 22.24 cents of that tax used to pay principal interest on the city's outstanding general obligation debt. Since all bonds in this package were approved, an additional $374,875,500 was set to be added to the amount owed in outstanding interest, for a total of $1,382,647,969, which city officials estimated could increase the ad valorem tax rate used to pay the city's interest owed.[1]
Path to the ballot
Proposition C was part of a 10-proposition bond package totalling $1.05 billion in proposed new debt added to the November 2017 ballot by a vote of the Dallas City Council.[8]
The bond proposal started out as an $800 million proposal as of mid-June 2017.[9] On June 28, 2017, the Dallas City Council voted 13-2 to increase the proposal, giving initial approval of a $1.025 billion bond package and pushing the proposal forward in the process. Council members Lee Kleinman and Philip Kingston were the two dissenting votes. On August 9, 2017, the city council voted 11-4 to add $25 million to the bond package and also voted 14-1 to put the propositions on the November 2017 election ballot. Councilman Kleinman was the only dissenter in the final vote. The added $25 million was earmarked for expansion of Klyde Warren Park, streetscaping in the Medical District, and a downtown water gardens project.[10]
Additional resources
- More data on Proposition C and other land conservation ballot measures is available at the LandVote database of the Trust for Public Land (TPL).
- More information about the Dallas' 10-proposition bond package is available here.
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Dallas Fair Park bond issue Proposition C. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Dallas City Secretary, "November 7 Bond election Order," August 10, 2017
- ↑ City of Dallas, "The 2017 Capital Bond Program," accessed August 29, 2017
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Dallas Bond Campaign, "Endorsements," accessed October 25, 2017
- ↑ Dallas Morning News, "Dallas shouldn't borrow money for road maintenance," October 17, 2017
- ↑ Dallas Morning News, "We recommend a 'yes' vote on Dallas Proposition C, to preserve and repair Fair Park," October 12, 2017
- ↑ Dallas Business Journal, "Dallas Regional Chamber urges passage of billion-dollar bond package," accessed October 25, 2017
- ↑ Dallas News, "Dallas voters will decide on $1.05 billion bond package loaded with parks, street repairs," August 9, 2017
- ↑ Dallas Morning News, "Dallas City Council finds tentative solution for gridlock on $800M bond package: spend $1B instead," June 21, 2017
- ↑ Dallas Morning News, "Billion-dollar bond moving forward with Dallas City Council vote," June 28, 2017
