Collin College bond would pay for a Celina workforce building; voter registration closes Oct. 5

Collin County voters will decide Nov. 3 on a $600 million bond for Collin College, and one of the projects on the list is a new workforce building at the college's Celina Campus.

Monday, Oct. 5, is the last day to register to vote in that election. Early voting runs Oct. 19 to 30.

What Celina would get

The college says the Celina building would house health professions, welding, construction management and HVAC programs, and would include unfinished space that could be built out later without starting over. Enrollment at the Celina Campus has risen 198% over the past five years, according to the college.

The college has not published a cost, size or construction timeline for the Celina building or for any single project.

It is one of six projects in the bond's second phase. The others are a workforce building at the McKinney Campus, an academic building in Wylie, a workforce expansion at the Plano Courtyard Center, a workforce and academic building at the Allen Technical Campus, and an aviation academy in McKinney.

A third phase would add new campuses in Anna and Royse City and expansions in Frisco, Wylie and Farmersville.

Taxes and the ballot

The proposition will appear on the ballot with the words "THIS IS A TAX INCREASE," language Texas requires on bond measures, followed by the $600 million authorization for workforce, career and technical, and academic facilities and the taxes needed to repay it.

The college says its tax rate has been 8.122 cents per $100 of valuation since 2018 and is expected to stay there if the bond passes, though it notes individual bills can still rise when appraisals go up. The college also says delays would add roughly 8%, or about $48 million, a year to project costs.

Collin College says that if the bond fails it would look at other legal funding options, and projects could be delayed, scaled back or spread over a longer period. Bond money can pay for buildings, equipment and technology but not salaries or operating costs.

Voters approved the college's last bond, also $600 million, in 2017. It paid for five campuses, including Celina's, and a public safety training center. That earlier measure drew organized objections over how much spending authority it gave trustees; this time the Allen Chamber of Commerce has endorsed the bond.

Sources

collin.edu

collin.edu

collin.edu

collin.edu

allenchamber.com