The council is considering such a measure during its regular meeting beginning at 5 p.m. today in the Municipal Building.
Assuming the council approves a resolution, the election would be May 9 to allow the Temple Health and Bioscience Economic Development District to levy a tax and issue bonds. The city and the district have the same boundaries.
Temple Mayor Bill Jones III said the election could prove important to the city.
“It is important to the city of Temple from the standpoint that it is a major strategic objective of supporting bioscience,” he said.
The development board announced plans in September to impose a property tax as much as 15 cents per $100 valuation on taxable property within the bioscience district.
Wendell Williams, chairman of the bioscience district board, said in the past that, although the district could tax as much as 15 cents, if approved by voters it will likely set the initial rate lower.
“It is up to the board to tell the story of the bioscience district and the bioscience initiative that has been ongoing in Temple,” Williams said.
The board has to tell Temple residents that an investment in this initiative will be beneficial in the community going forward - providing high paying jobs, a strong economy and developing the type of community where people want to live, he said.
“We look forward to the opportunity to tell that story and we look forward to the voters to give us verdict on how they feel about this future for the community,” Williams said.
The city’s finance office said that with $3.2 billion in taxable property, every 1 cent of a tax rate would raise about $320,000 in tax revenue.
Williams said tax proceeds would likely go toward promotion of the bioscience initiative in the city and fund one or two paid staff members to man a planned, bioscience incubator.
The district has secured federal funding for the incubator.
“As to how it’s going to impact the citizens of the city of Temple, at this point is still to be determined,” Jones said. He said it is the district’s responsibility to help inform and educate the community about the benefits of bioscience and the use of tax dollars if voters approve the tax.
Jones said the district would help the city in its goals of attracting bioscience industry.
“It will help to support the industry we’ve collectively been looking to create for about seven years now,” he said. “The objective was to put mechanics in place to develop new industry in Temple that would … take advantage of the research and education ongoing in this community and create jobs of the future for the city of Temple.”
According to Clydette Entzminger, city secretary, the district filed a petition in her office Nov. 3 with 183 signatures requesting the election.
At least 10 percent of registered voters who cast ballots in the most recent election were needed by law for the petition to be valid. With 1,447 voters casting ballots in the May 10, 2008, election, a total of 145 signatures were needed, according to the secretary’s office.
Temple voters approved formation of the district in 2003 to create jobs and investment opportunities by attracting businesses related to research and development of bioscience products, biotechnology laboratories, pharmaceutical facilities, biotechnology incubators and related projects.
