DALLAS — It's no secret Dallas is an aging city, with aging infrastructure that could desperately use an upgrade.
That’s why city leaders are poised to put a $1 billion bond package before voters in 2024. And infrastructure is the priority.
“We have got to bring that up to speed of what the region wants, what our city expects, and our customers,” Dallas City Councilmember Paula Blackmon told us on Inside Texas Politics. “We have some old pipes, some old streets. And we have to invest in that.”
The original plan was to ask voters to approve the bond package next May.
But some members of the city council would like to delay that vote until November, in an attempt to make the bond package even larger to help shore up the pension system for Dallas police and firefighters, which currently faces a major shortfall.
While Blackmon says it’s likely better to wait until November for the vote, the infrastructure portion of the bond proposal would remain the focus.
“Our streets, especially in D9, are crumbling,” she said. “If we don’t have a strong infrastructure, we can’t attract investment, we can’t attract businesses, and we sure aren’t going to attract people to live here.”