The mayor and council put a $62.5 million public-safety bond on the November ballot after borrowing for the design.
Cleburne families are being asked to hand City Hall a 9.2 percent increase in the city property-tax rate for a building the mayor and council have already spent $5.4 million designing. Taxpayers did not petition for it. City officials who helped draft the proposal and a specific-purpose committee (a type of PAC) that has sprung up just in time to advertise it are the ones pushing for its adoption.
Proposition A on Cleburne residents’ November ballot would authorize up to $62.5 million1 in general-obligation bonds for a facility housing police, fire administration, and municipal court. The bond estimate itself is $53.6 million for the building, $3.9 million for moving and equipment, $2 million for professional services, and $3 million for allowances and contingency. The city’s estimate is $0.05317 per $100 of taxable value. On a $400,000 taxable homestead, that is about $213 a year, on top of a city bill that is already about $2,324 at the $0.581 rate adopted in September.2 School, county, and any special purpose district taxes are, of course, separate.
In 2025, the city issued $15.5 million in certificates of obligation,3 debt that does not require an election unless citizens force one by petition. The published split was about $7.2 million for streets, $2.9 million to renovate a city-owned former bank into a municipal service center, and a whopping $5.4 million for architectural and design work on the proposed facility before voters ever have a chance to voice their position. An architect has been selected, and the renderings are already out.
The PAC Push Behind the Bond
While taxpayers consider the bond proposition, a newly formed local PAC4 called “Citizens for Improved Safety”5 is running an active campaign to support it, and that entity is less than a month old. The “Safer Cleburne / Yes on Prop A” ads are not city publications, but are being pushed by this specific-purpose committee whose donors are not yet public. The 30-day report was due October 5, and the city has up to 10 business days to post it. Until then, families cannot see who is paying for the push.
They can, however, see who is running it.
Two members of the city’s nine-member Public Safety Facility Study Group6 later formed the pro-bond specific-purpose committee Citizens for Improved Safety. Jeremy Longoria and Michael Hammond participated in the group that, on July 15, 2026, recommended the City Council place a proposal for up to $62.5 million in general-obligation bonds before voters. On the PAC’s form filed with the Cleburne City Secretary on September 16, 2026, Longoria is listed as campaign treasurer (with an address matching that of Dugger Electric in Cleburne), and Hammond is the person who appointed him; the committee’s stated purpose is to support the November 3, 2026 “Proposed Public Safety Facility” measure. Both men also hold leadership roles on the Cleburne Chamber of Commerce board (Longoria as 2026 Chairman; Hammond as Vice-Chairman/Chairman-Elect).7
The committee fits a familiar mold. Taxpayer-funded lobbying outfits such as the Texas Municipal League and the Texas Association of Counties have long run this play: design first, safety slogan second, then a pop-up committee whose checks, once disclosed, often trace back to the developers, architects, and consultants who make their money if the project passes. Cleburne’s disclosure will eventually show whether this one is any different.
The Mayor’s Inconsistencies
Mayor Derek Weathers has said8 that a failed election cannot return for five years under a new state law, and that construction would be delayed another seven years. Bills to impose that wait were filed in 2025, but they did not pass. After voters reject bonds for a purpose, a city generally cannot issue certificates of obligation for that same purpose for three years.9 It can still order another election. The five-year “cool-down” period is not on the books. Asked what happens if the bond fails, he said the city would use buildings it already owns. In the same posts, he said the old bank is already being renovated, that reuse of the current police building is under discussion, and that the fate of the existing public-safety buildings has not been decided.
The Question for Taxpayers
The police station is old, and the city has grown. But neither fact required City Hall to write the tax increase or borrow for the drawings and designs. While public safety is certainly important, the question taxpayers should be asking is: why push supposedly critical public safety improvements to a bond requiring approval, rather than prioritizing it in the base budget and cutting waste or unnecessary funding to make it happen? And the mayor has admitted10 that the city has had to make do with the existing facilities for decades. If this was something foreseen for decades, the city could have saved and budgeted (as all ordinary Texas families have to do) for new facilities instead of taking out a loan, with the taxpayers’ homes, land, and businesses as collateral.
Passing Proposition A would raise property taxes on Cleburne city taxpayers; there is no way around that fact. And this pattern is statewide. Taxpayers must now decide if their local governments are actually deserving of even more money.
Texans for Fiscal Responsibility is an independent educational non-profit organization seeking to illuminate the actions of government, educate and equip citizens to effectively advocate for pro-taxpayer and pro-family reforms, and hold lawmakers accountable for their actions.
Funded by ordinary Texans who want a fair, fiscally sound, and accountable government at all levels, we exist to protect and serve the best interests of taxpayers and families in the Lone Star State. Please consider making a generous donation towards our work today!
Get The Fiscal Note, our free weekly roll-up on all the current events that could impact your wallet. Subscribe today!
- https://www.cleburne.net/bond2026 ↩︎
- http://www.cleburne.net/m/newsflash/Home/Detail/1206 ↩︎
- https://www.cleburne.net/1642/Strategic-Planning-for-Future-Facilities ↩︎
- https://www.cleburne.net/599/Campaign-Finance-Reports ↩︎
- https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61593406277425 ↩︎
- https://www.cleburne.net/DocumentCenter/View/17080/Bond-2026-Study-Group-Flyer ↩︎
- https://business.cleburnechamber.com/groups/grouproster/executive-board-75 ↩︎
- https://www.facebook.com/share/1EubNxpfQc/?mibextid=wwXIfr ↩︎
- https://texas.public.law/statutes/tex._local_gov’t_code_section_271.047 ↩︎
- https://www.facebook.com/61591594771441/posts/122136980985386492/?mibextid=wwXIfr&rdid=zHIDrrxepMP0puii ↩︎
