By Bill Conrad, Star Local News
Plano– Terms of Plano ISD trustees may be lengthened from three to four years in order to keep the district’s election costs down.
The potential change is due to the passage of Senate Bill 100, which changed the date of the primary runoffs throughout the state. With the runoffs now scheduled for the middle of May in even-numbered years, counties are not required to offer election services to their municipalities in those years.
Collin County has chosen to offer election services, but the costs will rise dramatically since all costs are being passed on to the municipalities. Plano ISD typically spends $50,000-$80,000 each year on elections, Karla Oliver, the district’s executive director of government and community relations said. Oliver said the latest estimate received from the county puts the district’s May 2012 election costs at $365,000.
Superintendent Doug Otto said the option to extend the terms is the best solution for the district. He said keeping the elections the way they are is too expensive, and moving the elections to November is also not a good option.
“My concern [with November] was that we would be really down the ballot and would not be the focus of why people were walking into vote,” Otto said. “That is really not fair to the candidates running for the board.”
The city of Plano is also considering extending the terms of its council members to combat higher election costs. Unlike PISD which can extend the terms by simply passing a resolution, the city needs voter approval to make the necessary changes. The council has called a charter election for Nov. 8. If voter approval is gained, the city will hold elections only in odd-numbered years.
The school board is expected to pass a resolution at its Oct. 4 meeting. If that occurs, five trustees will be up for election in May 2013. Four of the trustees will be running for four-year terms, while a fifth will run for a transitional two-year term. This member will then be up for re-election in 2015, giving the board three trustees up for election at that time.
