Plano officials outline $647 million 2025 bond package, answer residents’ questions in telephone town hall

Plano officials on May 3 presented the proposed 2025 bond referendum — a $647 million package of seven propositions — and answered residents’ questions about tax impacts, project locations and timelines during a one‑hour telephone town hall.

Budget Director Karen Rhodes Whitley said the ballot will include seven propositions to fund streets and transportation, public safety facilities and communications, a police training center, fire station work, fleet maintenance, library interior renovation and parks and trails. “On May 3, there will be a special election in Plano,” Whitley said, and the city plans to issue the authorized debt over a four‑ to five‑year period.

The bond package addresses large capital items officials said the city cannot pay for from current cash. Whitley provided the high‑level cost breakdown presented to callers: Proposition A (streets and transportation) about $360.3 million; Proposition B (new police headquarters and public safety communications center) $155 million; Proposition C (police training center) $51 million; Proposition D (fire station work including a new Fire Station 14 and Station 3 replacement) $37 million; Proposition E (fleet maintenance facility) $45 million; Proposition F (Shema Finning Library interior renovations) $1.9 million; and Proposition G (parks and recreation land acquisition, park renovations and a west maintenance facility) $41 million. She also said the total includes an estimated $291 million in interest over a 20‑year period if all projects are built within the city’s four‑year timeframe.

Whitley told callers that the projected tax‑rate impact would be up to 2.9 cents — about $134 per year for the average homeowner based on an average home value the city cited as $579,000 and the current city tax rate of 41.76 cents per $100 of assessed value. She added that residents 65 or disabled who have an approved tax freeze with their county appraisal district would not see that projected increase applied to their city property taxes.

Officials also answered detailed questions from callers about specific projects and locations. On Proposition B, Susan Carr, director of Public Safety Communications, said the city plans a new, more secure facility to house dispatch and 911 operations that were last expanded in 2002. “Moving into the police headquarters facility, we’ll provide a more secure building of facility to house the department that needs to be operational at all times, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,” Carr said.

Ron Smith, director of Parks and Recreation, described the Alma Drive/West Park Boulevard parcel being proposed partly for public safety facilities: he said the city purchased a 51‑acre site originally for a park but that changes in service needs made part of the site suitable for a police facility and a fire station. Smith said the plan would leave roughly 38 acres to be developed as a community park. “We’re looking forward to cooperating and partnering with the police department and our fire department as we build those public amenities…while also delivering a fantastic park to our residents,” he said.

Police Chief Ed Drain told a caller that court and jail operations tied to the current headquarters would not move as part of the proposal: “This plan does not include any changes to the jail or to the court facilities.” City Manager Mark Isrelson said the city has no definitive plan yet for the existing downtown police headquarters and would consider future uses only after the bond referendum outcome and a subsequent municipal facilities study.

On leftover 2021 bond authority, Whitley told callers the city has roughly $131 million authorized in 2021, is issuing $75 million soon for park projects, and that the remaining approximately $56 million is already designated for park projects in the pipeline and will be issued next spring.

Residents pressing on streets projects received details from Abby Owens, director of Public Works, and Caleb Thornhill, director of Engineering. Owens said bond funding would support roughly eight to 10 miles per year of concrete repair and overlay on arterial streets, with a goal of about 40 miles over the bond period; she explained the city stages concrete repairs behind underground utility work to avoid repeated replacement. Thornhill noted a signal is planned at Eighteenth and Shiloh and that Spring Creek Road widening has been studied but is not scheduled because traffic volumes have not yet met the thresholds set previously by residents and council.

On eminent domain concerns related to parks land acquisition, Smith said the city typically negotiates purchases directly with owners using independent appraisals and does not describe a standard plan to use condemnation in those cases.

Other project details raised by callers: the Shema Finning Library interior work is described as restroom, finishes and shelving updates following earlier smaller repairs; the police training center replacement and a new Fire Station 14 at Almond Park are included in the public safety propositions; and a new public works fleet maintenance building is proposed to serve an expanding city fleet.

Several callers asked about whether delaying projects to save interest would lower total costs. Whitley and City Manager Mark Isrelson said delaying large projects risks higher construction costs and further deterioration of infrastructure and could increase, not reduce, total program cost based on historical experience during and after the 2008–09 recession.

Officials directed residents to plano.gov/2025bond for project maps and further detail and provided a Public Works contact number for pothole and localized repairs. Callers were told the final project list was vetted through departmental submissions, an infrastructure planning committee, an eight‑member bond referendum citizen advisory committee and multiple public hearings before council adoption of the ballot language.

The telephone town hall lasted about an hour; city officials encouraged residents with remaining questions to submit them online or leave contact information for follow up.