The Frisco May ballot could be bigger than the past few years with the possible inclusion of a $345 million bond election and a city charter election in addition to open seats for public office.
Several public offices will be on the May ballot, including Frisco City Council places 2 and 4 and Frisco ISD school board places 1, 2 and 3. The Collin College board of trustees also has four places—places 2, 4, 5 and 6—up for election.
Council has until Feb. 5 to call for the bond and charter election in order to make it on the May ballot.
On Jan. 15 the citizen bond committee recommended to the council $345 million worth of bond projects that include public safety, public works, public library relocation, transportation, and parks and recreation.
One of the important pieces of the bond proposal is the relocation of the Frisco Public Library to the GEA building at 8004 Dallas Parkway, adjacent to the Frisco Discovery Center.
“For the past 13 years, bonds have been approved to help the expansion needs of the library, but those bonds weren’t sold,” said committee Chair Shanna Keaveny in an email. “Why? Because they weren’t a long-term fix to the overcrowded library issues.”
The committee proposed $62 million to repurpose and remodel the GEA building.
The bond proposal also includes $155 million for transportation that includes road improvements, an intelligent transportation system and a downtown street plaza.
If the bond is approved, the tax rate is not expected to increase.
“We are happy that the city’s conservative approach to bonds will not increase the tax rate to citizens, and that bonds will be sold on an as-needed basis,” Keaveny said.
City charter
In November the charter review commission presented 35 recommendations to council to update the city charter. Among the recommendations, the commission suggested increasing City Council members’ compensation and requiring a petition for anyone filing for a seat on the council.
During council’s winter work session Jan. 25 and a follow-up work session Jan. 29, council revised several of the propositions and narrowed the list to 24 recommendations.
One of the recommendations is to increase the mayor’s compensation from $500 per month to $850 per month and increasing a council member’s compensation from $350 per month to $700 per month.
Commission Chair Karen Cunningham said previously that the increased compensation is meant to correspond with the city’s growing population and increasing the time council members spend in the community.
For filing for City Council, the commission recommended requiring that candidates include a petition with 100 valid Frisco resident signatures with their candidate application. This would help ensure that candidates are committed to running for office, Cunningham said.
However, council revised the recommendation to lower the number to 25 signatures.
Other recommendations from the commission included removing a section that requires city employees to resign upon filing for office and removing the section about items that need to be published in the official newspaper.
City Council is scheduled to meet for its monthly regular meeting Feb. 5 at 5 p.m.
