PLANO, Texas — Plano voters on Tuesday rejected Proposition A, the ballot measure that would have authorized a package of venue taxes to help the city pay its share of a new arena for the Dallas Stars at The Shops at Willow Bend. With all 90 precincts reporting, 56,061 votes, or 54.6%, were cast against the proposal and 46,658, or 45.4%, were cast in favor, according to Community Impact. Those results stay unofficial until they are canvassed in Collin and Denton counties, which Plano straddles.
The ballot language for Proposition A opened with the words “THIS IS A TAX INCREASE” and listed five taxes Plano could impose to finance the arena. Short-term car rentals could have been taxed at up to 5% and hotel rooms at up to 2%, which would have brought the maximum combined hotel occupancy tax rate in Plano to 15%. At the arena, the city could have taxed parking at up to $3 per vehicle and tickets at up to 10% of the price, along with a facility-use tax of up to $5,000 per game on each member of a major league team that plays there.
Money from those taxes was meant to help Plano pay off up to $700 million in bonds it committed toward the $1 billion arena. That arena would anchor a $3 billion mixed-use redevelopment of the mall site west of the Dallas North Tollway, where the city plans call for an 18,000-seat building…