The Dallas City Council approved $15 million in state grants, authorized up to $17.5 million in private donations and appropriated $20 million in construction funding for a new police training center at the University of North Texas at Dallas. City records show the $10 million and $5 million state grants came from the Texas Office of the Governor's Criminal Justice Division. The private donations, pledged by QuikTrip Corporation and the W.W. Caruth Foundation through Communities Foundation of Texas, are part of the $20 million construction allocation.
Under a separate item, the council approved $20 million for Swinerton Builders, raising the construction contract amount committed to date from about $29 million to $49 million. The council also accepted a guaranteed maximum price of about $158.6 million but did not appropriate the full amount. Council Member Paula Blackmon is recorded as opposing the construction item. Council members approved naming rights of up to 20 years after rejecting Blackmon's proposal to defer the sponsorship terms, which failed 5-9.
City officials said the Dallas Police Department remains below the 4,000-officer staffing level set under Proposition U. Officials described a $70 million private fundraising target and said roughly $32 million had been committed, a figure one official described from memory rather than from an audited total. Voters will decide a $443 million public-safety bond proposal on November 3.