Election
BY SHELBIE HAMILTON
$485.5M bond could support public safety, municipal facility projects
By the numbers
The impact
Proposition A: $106M for parks and recreation improvements
The city’s debt capacity is estimated to be $711 million and is determined through consideration of four factors. Debt capacity factors 1. Time: debt capacity models are made using a speci c length of time. 10 years 2. Bond interest rates: city o cials estimate a steady interest rate when the bond debt is issued. 5% interest rate 3. Debt tax rate: a level debt tax rate is assumed when estimating debt capacity. $0.140825 per $100 valuation 4. Property valuations: valuations and associated tax revenue are considered when estimating debt capacity. $35.9 billion
The bond, if passed, will not increase the tax rate, Chief Financial O cer Mark Holloway said. Holloway said he uses the current debt service tax rate when determining the city’s debt capac- ity to avoid any negative impact on the overall property tax rate. The city’s debt capacity is $711 million, which is a high capacity, Holloway said. When considering the 2019 bond, Holloway estimated an interest and sinking tax rate, or debt tax rate, of about $0.17 per $100 valuation. Since that election, the city has issued over $300 million in debt while also lowering the debt tax rate to just over $0.14 per $100 valuation, he said. McKinney’s taxable property valuation has also increased by over 65% to nearly $36 billion in that same period. “We’re able to stay within the parameters that the voters are giving us, and we’re able to also … reduce the tax rate,” Holloway said. “With the growth that McKinney is seeing, I don’t see that changing over the life of this next bond election.”
A 36-person bond committee recom- mended the projects included in the bond package after considering a larger list of the city’s unfunded projects. “Our responsibility to evaluate these topics and make a recommendation to the City Council was something that I know … [the committee] took very seriously,” bond committee member Dean Cimini said. If one or more of the propositions are not approved, city o cials are required by the state to wait three years before adding the projects into a new bond election, Minyard said. “The items on this bond election are about delivering services to a growing community,” McKinney City Council member Justin Beller said in an email.
Proposition D: $70M for public safety facilities Proposition E: $243.5M for street improvements Proposition B: $36M for municipal court facilities Proposition C: $30M for Public Works campus improvements
Total $485.5M
A project to construct a new municipal court facility is proposed in Proposition B and, if approved, would replace the city’s 58-year-old court building. “It has reached [the end of] its useful life,” Director of Strategic Services Trevor Minyard said of the facility. Fire Station No. 3, which was built in 1993, will get upgrades if Proposition D is approved. The proposition also includes land acquisitions for future stations, the reconstruction of Fire Station No. 8 and construction of a driver training pad. Other projects proposed for funding through the bond include improvements at a public works campus, construction of new ball elds at Gabe Nesbitt Park, additional pickleball courts at various McKinney parks and improvements at Towne Lake Park.
A bond election on the May ballot will ask McKinney voters to authorize funds that would be used to rejuvenate aging city facilities as well as create new ones. The election was added to the ballot by McKinney City Council members at a Feb. 6 meeting and includes ve propositions for a total of $485.5 million. Voters will consider approval of each proposition individually. The largest amount is earmarked for transportation projects, both for new roads as well as repairs to existing arterial and residential roads. ”The main thing is to understand how much work there is to do ... to keep the streets looking well for the residents ... and then still providing for the additional growth that’s happening in the community,” Director of Engineering Gary Graham said.
SOURCE: CITY OF MCKINNEY COMMUNITY IMPACT
"For us to continue to provide excellent service to the community, we're going to need some additional resources," PAUL DOW, FIRE CHIEF
SOURCE: CITY OF MCKINNEY COMMUNITY IMPACT
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