In a two-year span, Dallas crawled out from underneath two threats that could've sent the city spiraling to bankruptcy. Last year, the city and its police and firefighters staved off a pension crisis for at least another seven years by agreeing to cut benefits and raise city contributions to the pension fund. This time around, the city agreed to settle a series of decades-old lawsuits over police pay for about a quarter-billion dollars. It wasn't cheap, but City Attorney Larry Casto and City Council member Scott Griggs' efforts to negotiate the settlement could save the city billions in the long run.