Dallas City Council approved $15 million in state grants, authorized receipt of up to $17.5 million in private donations, and appropriated $20 million in available construction funding Wednesday for a new police training center at the University of North Texas at Dallas. The private donations are part of, not additional to, the $20 million construction allocation.
The October 28 meeting also produced a debate over naming rights, with council members ultimately approving sponsorship terms of up to 20 years. The decisions come as the Dallas Police Department remains below the 4,000-officer staffing level established under Proposition U, while voters prepare to decide a separate $443 million public-safety bond proposal November 3.
Council Approves Construction Funds
The $10 million and $5 million grants from the Texas Office of the Governor’s Criminal Justice Division were approved in separate voice votes, according to the city council recording and agenda. The grants cover construction and implementation of the proposed academy at 1200 E. Camp Wisdom Road.
Council members also authorized receipt and appropriation of up to $17.5 million in funds pledged by QuikTrip Corporation and the W.W. Caruth Foundation through Communities Foundation of Texas. The council approved both parts of the divided sponsorship item by voice vote. The meeting transcript does not establish numerical totals for those approvals.
Under a separate construction item, the council approved $20 million in available funding for Swinerton Builders, raising the construction contract amount committed to date from approximately $29 million to $49 million. That $20 million consists of $17.5 million in donated funds and $2.5 million from previously authorized 2024 bond funds.
The council also accepted a guaranteed maximum price of approximately $158.6 million for the applicable construction package but did not appropriate the full amount Wednesday. The construction item passed by voice vote, with Council Member Paula Blackmon recorded as opposed in the meeting transcript.
Naming Rights Debate Ends In Approval
The council rejected a proposal from Blackmon to defer the sponsorship toolkit for a November 4 briefing and a November 10 vote. The proposal failed 5-9 in a recorded vote, according to the meeting video. Members then approved an amendment permitting naming rights for up to 20 years and adopted the toolkit by voice vote.
City attorneys told council members that the two donor-specific naming agreements would return for approval. During the discussion, city officials described a $70 million private fundraising target and estimated that roughly $32 million had been committed, with requests pending for the balance. The $32 million figure was characterized during the meeting as an official’s recollection, not an audited total.
Police Staffing Remains Below Proposition U Target
Dallas voters approved Proposition U on November 5, 2024, adding Section 15 to Chapter XI of the city charter. The measure requires Dallas to increase its number of full-time sworn police officers to at least 4,000 and then maintain or increase the ratio of 4,000 officers to the city population recorded when the amendment passed. The charter does not specify a date by which the initial staffing minimum must be reached.
Dallas reported 3,410 sworn officers in September 2026, leaving a 590-officer gap, as previously reported by The Dallas Express. The city’s adopted fiscal year 2027 budget projects 3,651 officers by September 2027, still 349 below the charter threshold, followed by 3,800 by September 2028, still 200 short. These are projections, not confirmed future staffing counts.
Proposition U also sets funding priorities. Under the charter’s language, when annual city revenue exceeds the prior fiscal year’s revenue, the council must appropriate at least 50% of that increase to the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System at the required level. Any money remaining from that allocation must go toward specified police compensation and staffing objectives. The provision does not direct half of all city revenue to policing.
The amendment calls for starting police salary and non-pension benefits, excluding signing bonuses, to rank among the top five of qualifying city police departments in Dallas, Collin, Tarrant, Denton, and Rockwall counties. It also requires an annual independent compensation survey.
The city’s adopted 2027 budget lists starting police compensation of $83,822 and states that pay plus non-pension benefits places Dallas among the region’s highest-paying departments. That city statement is not a substitute for the charter-required comparative survey.
Under the charter, money appropriated toward the police staffing objective but not spent within the fiscal year must be transferred to a fund for that objective in the next fiscal year. Remaining funds may be redirected by council only after the specified public-safety objectives are met.
The October 28 council decisions finance training-center construction and related agreements, not an immediate increase in the sworn officer count. The new academy could support future police training, but the approvals establish neither a hiring schedule nor a finding that Dallas has satisfied Proposition U.
Bond Election Could Provide Another $82 Million
Proposition A on the November 3 ballot would authorize $443 million in general obligation bonds for five public-safety facilities, according to the city’s bond information. That includes $82 million sought for the training center, which has an estimated $227 million total project cost. The proposed borrowing is separate from the city’s 2024 Proposition U charter amendment.
The city estimates repayment of approximately $629.6 million in principal and interest across the full bond proposal over no more than 20 years. State law requires the ballot language to state “THIS IS A TAX INCREASE,” although the city says it does not anticipate increasing its tax rate because of the program.
Provided by Dallas Express
