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GLENN HEIGHTS – City Manager Cliff Blackwell and City Secretary Brandi Brown held three town hall meetings to better inform residents of the city’s bonds and propositions on the Nov. 4 ballot.
Blackwell confirmed the town hall meetings were intended to inform residents about the items affecting the city on the November ballot.
Items that were explained included Propositions A to G that included:
A – Amending of the city’s home rule charter extending the terms of office of the mayor and city council from three to four years. This also includes extending the term of ineligibility of term-limited members from three to four years to begin as of the November 2026 election.
B – Compensation for Mayor of $1,000 monthly and councilmembers $500 monthly totaling $48,000 annually.
C – Disqualifying candidates from city council who have previously been removed by council for misconduct.
D – Repeal requirement that all ordinances must be considered at two separate city council meetings and amend to ordinance being adopted at the first reading.
E – Election by plurality in which the candidate receiving the most votes to be declared elected versus more than 50% of the vote.
F – The city council will appoint a council liaison with a salary of $41,003 up to $252,661.
G – Notices of claims against the city must be filed within 45 days versus the current 90 days.
Items that were explained regarding the General Obligation Bonds, which are tax increases, included Propositions H to J:
H – The issuance of $3,400,000 general obligation bond for an animal shelter control facility.
I – The issuance of $11,500,000 general obligation bond for park and recreational improvements.
J – The issuance of $18,700,000 general obligation bond for street improvements.
For information, the city’s adopted tax rate for M & O and Interest & Sinking combined is $0.562795.
A General Obligation Bond is like a home mortgage. These may be repaid by levying an interest and sinking fund tax rate or other legally available revenues.
The interest rate of the bond is set once the bonds are sold and are based on the city’s credit rating and the bond market environment at the time of pricing.
Currently the city’s credit rating is “AA” by Standard and Poor’s. Bonds can be repaid over 40 years; the city’s plan is to repay them in 20 years.
For more information visit the Glenn Heights Election page at www.glennheightstx.gov/230/Elections-Elecciones-Bau-cu.
