Voters are headed to the polls this November to weigh in on the way forward for Bexar County’s venue tax — cash the county collects off lodge and rental automobile charges, that are anticipated to generate a whole lot of tens of millions of {dollars} over the following 30 years.
The venue tax is a instrument created by Texas legislation to permit cities and counties to finance an array of initiatives by taxes that fall totally on guests as an alternative of residents.
Its makes use of are restricted — however not as restricted as some native leaders have been suggesting.
“It’s particularly prescribed for sports activities venues and different forms of venues, and it could possibly’t be simply used for something,” stated state Rep. Barbara Gervin Hawkins (D-San Antonio), at an Oct. 1 city corridor on the East Facet.
The truth is, state legislation gives a protracted record of initiatives that would qualify as a possible “venue:” Arenas, coliseums, stadiums, conference facilities, municipal parks and recreation programs, watershed safety and preservation initiatives.
If it’s throughout the neighborhood of a conference heart, the potential undertaking makes use of are even better, together with theaters, music halls, opera homes, aquariums and zoos.
For any qualifying undertaking, venue tax cash can be utilized for surrounding infrastructure as nicely, together with shops, eating places, on-site accommodations, parking amenities, streets, sewer amenities and environmental remediation, in response to state statute.
However since venue taxes hit the lodge and tourism trade particularly, municipalities are supposed to make use of cash on initiatives that may draw in additional guests, in response to the Texas Municipal League.
The Texas Comptroller regulates whether or not a undertaking qualifies, however native voters get the ultimate say over how they need to spend the cash.
Up to now it’s been used for Riverwalk extensions, newbie sports activities amenities just like the Mission Concepcion Sports activities Park on the South Facet, and a Northside ISD swim heart.
The entire county’s current venue tax initiatives have been accomplished, and incoming {dollars} are actually getting used to pay them down, with about $334 million in principal and $138 million in curiosity nonetheless owed.
The following spherical of initiatives
Within the case of Props A and B, the concept to designate a brand new set of initiatives originated with the San Antonio Spurs, which needed to construct a downtown enviornment and approached the county about utilizing venue tax {dollars} to assist fund it.
First the county ran the numbers on what the venue tax will generate over the following 30 years — past what’s wanted to repay current initiatives — from the prevailing 5% rental automobile taxes, plus a maxed-out tax on lodge rooms, which county leaders need to improve from 1.75% to 2%.
Then Bexar County Commissioners ordered a examine of what it will take to renovate the Spurs’ current East Facet residence into one thing new, and subtracted that quantity from out there pool of venue tax {dollars}.
“Since [the day] we realized that the Spurs needed to relocate downtown, I’ve been constant that the county will solely entertain a plan that options substantial funding and redevelopment within the East Facet,” Bexar County Choose Peter Sakai stated of these selections on the Eastside city corridor.
As soon as the county had a imaginative and prescient for what that East Facet reboot might appear to be and the way a lot it will price, he continued, “We stated, ‘[With] what’s left, we’ll see what we will do for the Spurs.’”
These calculations got here out at about $198.2 million wanted for the East Facet, with about $311 million remaining in venue tax capability.
The county then received permission from the state to place propositions on the Nov. 4 poll asking voters to designate renovations to county-owned East Facet amenities and the proposed $1.3 billion Spurs enviornment as an “accredited venue initiatives.”
“I’ve heard [people ask], ‘Why can’t [this money] be used for sidewalks, for housing?’” Sakai stated. “As a result of it is a county venue tax, it could possibly solely be used for venues.”
Public funding construction
Props A and B solely authorize the Spurs enviornment and Eastside amenities to obtain venue tax funding — they don’t assign greenback quantities to their respective initiatives.
The reboot of the East Facet amenities, approved by Proposition A, could be absolutely funded from venue tax {dollars} if it passes on the Nov. 4 poll.
Whereas Proposition B would designate the Spurs enviornment as a venue tax-eligible undertaking, Bexar County’s settlement with the workforce says the county gained’t contribute greater than $311 million of the full $1.3 billion price ticket — whereas town and workforce’s homeowners are purported to make up the remaining.
The town doesn’t want voters’ permission to spend its $489 million enviornment funding, and made its personal settlement with the Spurs contingent on the passage of the county’s Proposition B.
Advertisements from a Spurs PAC stress the venue tax’s burden on guests versus locals, however a number of different public funding sources can even be used.
A part of town’s cash comes from a Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone — which permits a metropolis to gather the expansion in property taxes from a particular space to be reinvested in initiatives inside that zone — on this case the sector.
One other a part of its enviornment contribution comes from a state-sanctioned Venture Finance Zone (PFZ), which permits town to make use of state gross sales tax cash from new accommodations and lodge enterprise to fund a serious sports activities venue or conference heart.
A do-over if it fails?
If voters don’t conform to designate the Spurs enviornment or the East Facet renovations as venue tax initiatives, the county can preserve spending cash generated by the prevailing charges to pay down debt on beforehand accredited initiatives.
County leaders can even come again to voters with completely different venue tax proposals at a later date, as long as these concepts additionally win the comptroller’s approval.
COPS/Metro Alliance chief Mike Phillips stated that’s the larger purpose for his group, which launched a PAC to attempt to defeat Prop B on the Nov. 4 poll.
“We need to be on the bargaining desk [when the county revisits that spending],” Phillips stated.
Whereas the county pursued a venue tax election in 2008, county leaders shaped a residents advisory committee to gather suggestions on the group’s wants, and in the end included initiatives like Riverwalk extensions, the Alameda Theatre, youth sports activities complexes, the Tobin Heart for the Performing Arts and the Frost Financial institution Heart, then generally known as the AT&T Heart.
This time round, Bexar County leaders say they’re in a distinct place as a result of the Spurs intend to depart the Frost Financial institution Heart, the place they’ve a lease by 2032, so the county shall be on the hook for costly upkeep at the moment funded by the workforce.
Prop A would pay for the following spherical of repairs on the Frost Financial institution Heart and Freeman Coliseum, whereas retrofitting them for extra year-round occasions to assist the venues be self-sustaining sooner or later.
“That’s what these referendums are all about,” Sakai stated. “Now we have been diligently planning for the way forward for county amenities …. as a result of we’ve got a fiduciary accountability to guard and improve these public property.”
