DALLAS – The Dallas suburb of Allen, Tex., is developing a list of possible bond propositions that could go before the city's voters in May.
The city's Capital Improvement Program Steering Committee is still meeting to determine the bond package that will be recommended to the City Council, but has already ranked a series of projects valued at more than $103 million.
The committee is deciding between a total of six recommendations – three bond package amounts based on a five-year term and three bond package amounts based on a seven-year term.
"Under each term, they are considering bond package amounts with no, minimal and moderate impact to the tax rate," said city spokeswoman Teresa Forsyth Warren.
"Final project selection will be contingent upon the bond package amount recommendation," she said.
"The final list of projects for the bond package and the total amount for the bond package has not been determined, and a May bond election has not been set," Warren said.
The proposed package will go to City Council on Jan. 26 as part of a public hearing. Pending the outcome of the hearing, the council would not order an election until Feb. 9 to put the bond package before the voters for a May 7 bond election, Warren said.
With $96 million of general obligation bonds outstanding Allen still has capacity for another $87 million, according to a committee presentation. The average interest rate on outstanding debt is 3.37%.
Under a five-year timeline, the city could issue $55 million of additional debt without a tax increase. Under a seven-year scenario, it could issue $80 million, according to the presentation.
A "moderate" impact of 1.9 cents per $100 valuation over seven years or 5.4 cents over five years would come from an issue of about $106.4 million
The city's financial advisor is Estrada Hinojosa & Co.
Rated triple-A by Standard & Poor's, Allen is an affluent and fast-growing suburb north of Dallas. The population has doubled to 93,000 since 2000.
Projected per capita effective buying income is 153% of the national level, according to S&P. Market value, a wealth indicator, is more than $98,000 per capita.
The city's tax base has grown 21% over the past three years, reaching $9.2 billion in fiscal 2015. Meanwhile, citywide sales tax collections are up an aggregate 29% over three years, reaching $17.3 million in fiscal 2014.
