Paula Blackmon🌵🌵🌵

The Financial Policy That Could Stop the Abandonment of Dallas City Hall By Cara Mendelsohn, Dallas City Councilwoman, District 12 With talk of abandoning Dallas City Hall, shedding city real estate assets like libraries, managing failed real estate purchases such as the office building on Stemmons, hospital on Hampton, and motel on Independence, along with years-delayed and over-budget projects like the Five Mile Creek drainage tunnel, the Wings practice facility, the five-year delayed conversion of District 1’s former Miramar Hotel to homeless housing, the significantly underfunded new police academy at UNT, and a proposed multi-billion-dollar convention center redevelopment, Dallas residents may wonder whether there are any financial guardrails to guide these decisions. There are. Like most cities, Dallas has policies that guide the city’s fiscal decision making, and we call them Financial Management Performance Criteria. These criteria exist to ensure that enthusiasm for a project never outpaces logic, financial capacity, or good governance. There are 55 Financial Management Performance Criteria, or FMPC, adopted annually as part of the city’s budget ordinance. Originally introduced in 1978, they have been revised only eight times by the Dallas City Council in nearly five decades. That small number of revisions tells you something important. These policies are meant to be stable and durable. They exist precisely so they are not casually rewritten whenever a politically popular project comes along. The FMPC cover a wide range of topics, including budgeting, operating programs, pensions, capital and debt management, economic development, accounting and auditing, financial reporting, grants and trusts, and additional criteria for Dallas Water Utilities. Over time, they have also become an important signal to bondholders and credit rating agencies that Dallas manages its finances responsibly. Just as importantly, the FMPC reassure taxpayers. Even when residents or councilmembers disagree with certain city expenditures, these policies ensure that major financial decisions must still pass a test of fiscal discipline. They create guardrails meant to prevent sudden decisions that could dramatically increase debt or taxes without thoughtful analysis and broad support. The criteria reflect a conservative fiscal philosophy: taking care of assets, avoiding borrowing for short-term expenses, and requiring broad agreement before disposing of public property, among many other gems of common sense fiscal policy. So how does all of this relate to the recent discussion about abandoning Dallas City Hall? Dallas City Hall is not just another office building. Designed by renowned architect I. M. Pei, it is admired worldwide and is one of the most notable examples of reinforced concrete civic architecture. It has served as the civic home of the people of Dallas since the city looked toward a bold future in the aftermath of President Kennedy’s assassination. Beyond its architectural importance, City Hall has long served as a large gathering place for Dallas residents. From the Dallas Marathon or Turkey Trot to civil rights marches, it's where Dallas residents come to speak directly to their government. At the March 4 city council meeting, Councilmembers Bazaldua and Blackmon referenced FMPC #20, which requires a three-fourths vote of the City Council to dispose of certain city property. In practical terms, that means twelve of fifteen councilmembers must agree before the city can move forward with selling or abandoning major public assets. At first glance, that requirement might reassure taxpayers. If six councilmembers oppose abandoning City Hall, the project cannot move forward. But it raises an uncomfortable question. What happens when the rules designed to protect the public stand in the way of a politically favored project? I can see two possibilities. Thread: 1/2

Are they insane? Bryan Tower is older than city hall. There is nothing distinctive or memorable about it. If this is what they are thinking, we are doomed. My first job out of college, I worked in this building. bizjournals.com/dallas/news/…