At the Frisco City Council meeting last night, March 1, 2011, the council voted 4-2 to send the Arts of Collin County bond package back to the Frisco Voter.
The Arts of Collin County bond package became a hot issue in last year's City Council election where John Keating made it a cornerstone issue of his campaign. The issue helped carry Mr. Keating to a resounding victory over former City Councilman Joyner.
The Arts of Collin County bond package originally passed by the voters in 2002 as a four city project between McKinney, Allen, Plano and Frisco. The then city council stating on video that they would not sell the bonds unless all four cities passed the bond package. Only three of the cities in the deal passed the bonds but the then city council started to sell the bonds anyway.
This issue will be put to the Frisco voter during municipal elections on the May 14, 2011. This issue is sure to define the campaign for City Council and may leave an opening for someone to challenge Mayor Masso who has said Frisco is a second rate city without the Arts project. (the Arts Center is being built in Allen, and for the record- We believe Frisco is a first rate city!)
The 4 Council members that voted to put it back on the ballot:
Scott Johnson
Pat Fallon
Jeff Cheney
John Keating
The two City Council members that voted for the ACC to go forward with Frisco taxpayer input were Bob Allen and Bart Crowder.
The Mayor is only required to weigh in on tie votes but that didn't stop Mayor Maso from making it clear that he thought his opinion was more important than the Frisco tax payers.
Frisco has an annual budget of just under 78 million. The Arts Center Bond package is tagged at 17 Million or nearly 25% of what it cost to run Frisco for one year.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|