Council hears public input and staff briefing on $700.7 million preliminary bond package; timetable set for late January decisions

City staff presented a preliminary $700.7 million general obligation bond referendum package and held a public hearing; council members asked for more specificity on large-ticket items, tax impacts, and voter education materials ahead of a Jan. 27 deadline to finalize propositions and a Feb. 10 vote to call the election.

Karen Rhodes Whitley led the staff presentation and said the preliminary package totals $700.7 million, with proposed allocations including $342.3 million for street improvements, $243.6 million for public-safety facilities, roughly $60.7 million for parks and recreation facilities, $45.1 million for a fleet operations facility, about $5 million for library facilities and $3.9 million for city maintenance facilities. She said the package is preliminary and that the council must decide proposition order and final project lists at the Jan. 27 meeting before ordinance adoption to call the election on Feb. 10.

Staff provided modeled tax-rate impacts under several scenarios: at issuance of the $700.7 million over a four-year authorization, the illustrative impact on an average home (assessed at $579,000 in staff materials) would be about 4.85 cents on the tax rate — roughly $224 per year at the end of the four-year issuance window using the staff's assumptions. Staff also modeled five-year issuance profiles and estimated recurring operation-and-maintenance (O&M) costs associated with added facilities at roughly $6.9 million annually after four years, of which $5.4 million is for public-safety facilities.

Council members asked for additional details and legal guidance: Councilman Anthony Williams and Councilman Riccadelli pressed staff to provide the total lifetime cost of bond debt over the 20-year maturity period and to ask bond counsel what information may be included in voter-education materials beyond the statutorily required tax-rate notices. Councilman Riccadelli also recommended that council review items rated low by the Bond Referendum Citizen Advisory Committee (BRCAC) and consider trimming the package; he urged staff to provide a detailed list of items that did not receive a majority "high priority" rating from the committee.

Several public speakers urged inclusion of arts facilities or seed funding for adaptive reuse of buildings for arts uses. Diane Goble, chair of the Cultural Arts Commission, told the council the commission supports infrastructure projects but is concerned the bond package does not address needs for performance and visual-arts venues and recommended exploring repurposing vacant buildings and creating an arts department. Jean Dillard (Coalition of Arts Plano) and Steve Levine (Keep Plano #1) echoed that request and asked the council to consider a separate proposition for arts funding or alternative funding sources such as TIF or hotel occupancy tax.

Multiple speakers also addressed transit and DART funding during the public-comment period. Members of the Dallas Area Transit Alliance and individuals who use DART said cuts to fixed-route bus and rail service to fund citywide on-demand microtransit (GoLink-style) would harm riders and reduce system capacity. Speakers asked the council to preserve Plano's financial commitment to DART and to avoid reallocating funds in ways that would reduce bus and rail frequency.

Staff and council members agreed to gather additional detail on large projects (for example, the police training center and facilities maintenance items), to request bond counsel's opinion about what long-term cost information may be included in voter-education materials, and to provide written responses and presentations at the Jan. 27 council meeting. Council did not vote on the package at this hearing.

Proposed next steps in the staff timeline: council to decide proposition order and amounts Jan. 27, consider ordinance to call election on Feb. 10, voter education and public outreach in March-April, early voting April 21-29 and Election Day May 3 (staff timelines provided in packet).