{"id":466166,"date":"2026-10-14T22:22:23","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T22:22:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/466166\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T22:22:23","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T22:22:23","slug":"what-to-know-about-planos-dallas-stars-arena-tax-election-plano","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/466166\/","title":{"rendered":"What to know about Plano’s Dallas Stars arena tax election | Plano"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Nov. 3, Plano<\/a> voters will decide whether or not Plano can use state funding mechanisms to help pay for its $700 million portion of the proposed $1 billion arena for the Dallas Stars.<\/p>\n

In August, Plano council members called<\/a> the election on Proposition A, which includes levying a venue tax for rental cars, hotel rooms, game tickets, arena parking and visiting players\u2019 game checks.<\/p>\n

If approved by the voters, the venue tax would help the city finance a potential arena, City Manager Mark Israelson said, although discussions with the team remain ongoing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re working on a number of elements that affect the project,\u201d Israelson said. \u201cThis is strictly on the financing side.\u201d<\/p>\n

The different venue taxes<\/a> include:<\/p>\n

Up to 5% short-term motor vehicle rental tax<\/p>\n

Short-term hotel occupancy tax up to 2% of room price<\/p>\n

Up to $3 per vehicle event parking tax<\/p>\n

Up to 10% of each ticket price as an admissions tax<\/p>\n

Up to $5,000 per game on a member of a major league team that plays a professional sports game at the venue<\/p>\n

Diving deeper<\/p>\n

The Stars arena is part of a $3 billion redevelopment effort of The Shops at Willow Bend<\/a>, which includes a proposed $2 billion mixed-use development.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the taxes that are on the ballot are based on the Texas Local Government Code, which allows local municipalities to call a special election for residents to consider taxes for its revenue to go toward costs from the proposed venue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe venue taxes are established by state statute,\u201d Israelson said. \u201cThey’re authorized by state statute, provided that your community actually votes for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the venue taxes, the city created a tax increment reinvestment zone<\/a>, which uses growing property tax revenues in certain areas to pay for improvement projects, and is also looking at obtaining a special project zone from the state, Deputy City Manager Doug McDonald said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Together, the venue taxes, funding from the TIRZ and a special project zone make up potential funding sources for the project, McDonald said.<\/p>\n

Some context<\/p>\n

The venue taxes, if approved, are meant to collect revenue based on certain activities related to attending a game at the arena, McDonald said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not a tax on our property taxes, a tax increase in the rate. It’s not a tax that everyone’s going to see,\u201d he said. \u201cIt’s really just on those specific activities that are tied to the proposition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other communities, such as Arlington, have used similar taxes to pay for professional sports venues. Unlike Plano\u2019s proposal, Arlington included a half-cent sales tax increase to help pay for stadiums built for the Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers.<\/p>\n

What else<\/p>\n

Ahead of the election, city officials have worked through various studies to analyze the impact on traffic and other infrastructure, including policing the area.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The city has also created a website with over 250 questions and answers about the venue taxes and development, Israelson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re trying to be very transparent in presenting as much information as possible,” Israelson said. “We actually have a citizen committee right now that’s evaluating economic impact to residential areas.\u201d <\/p>\n

Early voting for the election runs Oct. 19-30. Election Day is Nov. 3.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Nov. 3, Plano voters will decide whether or not Plano can use state funding mechanisms to help…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":466167,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103,1115,158748,409,152122,160,10048,28744,10578],"class_list":["post-466166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-dallas-stars","tag-doug-mcdonald","tag-election","tag-mark-israelson","tag-plano","tag-proposition-a","tag-the-shops-at-willow-bend","tag-venue-tax"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/466167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}