Dallas City Council officially approved $75.6 million in costs to the taxpayer during its meeting on Wednesday.
The most costly items authorized by officials include bulk and brush collection services, road preservation, and “affordable housing” initiatives.
Council members approved a $21.9 million three-year price service agreement for on-call brush and bulk trash collection, hauling, disaster debris collection, and disposal services.
The council also authorized spending $17.6 million on two years of construction services for slurry seal and micro-surfacing, which protect asphalt on roads. Viking Construction, the lowest of three bidders, will be responsible for executing these services.
Additionally, council members approved spending $6.8 million on cell phone services for City staff.
The council also authorized $6.3 million for a tax increment financing (TIF) development at 1340 North Hampton Rd. and 2045 Fort Worth Ave. Council members said this will spur development for a new Sprouts grocery store in the area.
“What this will do is help fund the TIF … for infrastructure needs,” said Council Member Omar Narvaez. “Especially on West Commerce Street … [and] some other things that we need like a fire station and other things that we desperately need in this area in order to continue the growth that’s happening.”
“This area — thanks to Mr. West’s leadership in getting the Miramar Hotel changed — the crime has gone down so drastically in this area that a reputable grocer like Sprouts wants to be in this area,” he continued. “The community is excited. … This is a grocery store that we desperately need.”
Furthermore, officials approved spending nearly $6.3 million on “artist services” for cultural organizations in Dallas.
The council also authorized a Dallas Public Facility Corporation (DPFC) “affordable housing” development at 5908 Maple Ave. Council Member Cara Mendelsohn voted against this item, having previously said that DPFC projects are bad investments for the City.
This specific project would forgo an estimated $4.9 million in taxes over the next 75 years.
The council also authorized the following expenditures:
- $2,793,048 — authorizing one year of construction services for the Improved Alley Maintenance Program.
- $1,199,853 — engineering services for optimizing existing water supply and raw water transmission infrastructure to meet municipal water supply demands.
- $1,644,824 — responding to sexual abuse and exploitation of children over the internet.
- $1,000,000 — clean-up services at Brownfield Sites in the South Dallas/Fair Park area.
- $828,742 — authorizing a six-year service price agreement for preventative maintenance, repair, basic repair training, and system monitoring services for the outdoor warning sirens system.
- $785,000 — authorizing a funding agreement with Dallas County for pedestrian improvements at the intersection of Meadow Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, including upgrading signal features and pedestrian crosswalks.
- $510,311 — purchasing cloud-based security software from Netsync Network Solutions.
- $500,000 — re-entry services for people formerly in the custody of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice who are re-entering society in the City of Dallas.
- $500,000 — inventory, cleanup planning, and community-involvement-related activities for Brownfield Sites, primarily in the South Dallas/Fair Park area.
- $300,000 — working agreement with various police departments, district attorney offices, sheriff offices, and the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center for the investigation, prosecution, education, and counseling activities related to the Dallas Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
- $298,000 — authorizing a contract with ETC Institute to conduct resident and business surveys for Budget and Management Services.
- $287,498 — increasing a construction services contract for traffic signal and pedestrian improvements at Fort Worth Avenue and Bahama Drive from $1,980,984 to $2,268,482.
- $260,000 — authorizing the sale of $76,270,000 worth of Equipment Acquisition Contractual Obligations.
- $250,000 — authorizing an agreement with the North Central Texas Council of Governments to collect the City of Dallas’ portion of funds for the Cotton Belt Regional Trail Project.
- $187,536 — purchasing and installing audio/visual equipment for the Office of Emergency Management.
- $137,500 — installing traffic signals at the intersection of Turtle Creek Boulevard and Fairmount Street.
- $100,000 — routine maintenance at Dallas Executive Airport.
- $100,000 — routine maintenance at Dallas CBD Vertiport.
- $61,344 — operating Texas’ Driving While Intoxicated Enforcement campaign during holiday periods throughout the next year.
In addition, the council authorized a two-year agreement for Dallas College to reimburse $540,000 to Dallas Fire-Rescue for fire department training services. This agreement comes along with $50,000 in costs, according to Wednesday’s agenda.
