Collin County voters will weigh in on a massive bond in November that seeks several infrastructure improvements, including multiple highway projects.
The bond package, which amounts to $683 million in spending, was approved by Collin County commissioners at a meeting held on August 14.
As previously covered by The Dallas Express, earlier meetings had seen the planning board suggest that the initial bond estimate of $683 million would not be sufficient due to the growth the county has been seeing.
Collin County’s population rose from 782,341 in 2010 to 1,158,696 in 2022, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Instead of allocating around $380 million in taxpayer money to highway projects, the board suggested that the sum be increased to $600 million, raising the total costs to over $903 million.
These taxpayer funds would go towards expansions and improvements at the county’s adult detention center, courthouse, and the Plano Juvenile Probation Office. The money would also be spent building new juvenile justice housing.
Proposition B – $5.7 million
This proposition would earmark $5.7 million for the construction of a 10,000-square-foot extension to the county’s animal services facility in McKinney.
Proposition C – $13.3 million
This proposition would see a new 20,000-square-foot medical examiner’s office built. The office made headlines in the wake of the Allen Premium Outlets massacre in May. It had to process eight homicides in one day and perform an autopsy of the gunman, as previously reported by The Dallas Express. Medical examiners there previously averaged one homicide every two to three weeks.
Proposition D – $22 million
These taxpayer funds would be used to finance new park projects and the renovation of Myers Park & Event Center in McKinney.
Proposition E – $380 million
The largest allotment would address multiple highway projects in the next five years, such as establishing regional corridor roadways, overhauling existing overloaded county roads, and facilitating the Outer Loop project. It would also help finalize the expansion of U.S. Highway 380, which could be losing funding after the Texas Department of Transportation revised its budget to divert $480 million to a different project earlier this month.
“It’s shocking quite frankly,” McKinney Mayor George Fuller told CBS News Texas in response to the diversion. “This project is long overdue to divert funds from it for a project down in Houston. I think it’s an HOV lane, and that is shortsighted.”
As covered by The Dallas Express, the U.S. 380 bypass project has been a matter of public debate, yet the need for an expansion to alleviate traffic concerns has been widely accepted.
“The traffic extends from here to the horizon,” explained Collin County Commissioner Darrell Hale, according to CBS News.
“Unless you live along it or through it, you don’t want to get on it,” said Hale. “It’s bad right now.”