The city of Plano appears set to lower its tax rate after council members arrived at a consensus between those who wanted the rate to remain unchanged, and others who wanted to prevent property tax collections from rising at all.

Plano City Council on Monday directed the city staff to publicize a rate of 46.03 cents per $100 valuation, a 1.8 percent drop from the city staff's proposed tax rate, which staff had recommended remain unchanged from the rate adopted the previous year.

The decision to publicize the rate in The Dallas Morning News effectively removes from the table the option of adopting a tax rate higher than 46.03 cents per $100, although the city could still approve an even lower rate later this year.

Council members Rick Smith and Anthony Ricciardelli opposed the city staff's proposed rate of 46.86 cents per $100, which was identical to last year's rate, and announced support for a rate that would have kept property tax rates from rising at all. Council member Ron Kelley proposed the 46.03 cent rate as a consensus option.