Posted Jan 4, 2008, 2:55 PM
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Loving SA 365 days a year
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Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: San Antonio
Posts: 3,891
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[SA] $415 Million Dollar Venue Tax Plan Set
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/met...y.28a14c7.html
Proposed projects
If Bexar County voters agree to extend the venue tax — the 1.75 percent levy on hotel rooms and 5 percent tax on rental cars that built the AT&T Center — county commissioners want to issue $415 million in bonds to fund the following projects:
- River improvements $125 million
- Performing arts center $100 million
- Amateur sports facilities $80 million
- AT&T Center $75 million
- Stock show and rodeo grounds $15 million
- Freeman Coliseum $10 million
- Alameda Theater $6 million
- Briscoe Western Art Museum $4 million
Quote:
Metro | State
AT&T Center, river project score big on venue tax
Web Posted: 01/03/2008 11:37 PM CST
Tracy Idell Hamilton
Express-News
Bexar County commissioners beat back most of Thursday's last-minute requests for venue tax funding, ultimately approving a $415 million package of civic improvement projects that will go before voters in May.
The Dolph and Janie Briscoe Western Art Museum got the $4 million it requested at the special meeting, and the Alameda Theater will receive $6 million of the $10 million it requested.
Thursday's vote ended the months-long jockeying for dollars by all manner of groups hoping to cash in on the bonanza that would be created by extending the venue tax on hotel rooms and car rentals.
The big winners included the San Antonio River Improvements Project, youth and sports facilities and the AT&T Center.
The only major proposal trimmed back by commissioners was a $110 million request for a new performing arts center. It was cut by $10 million to make way for the two late-comers and to add $5 million to fund a new sports complex at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
In February, commissioners will call for an election in May, but the campaign to pass the measure likely will begin immediately.
In 1999, the first time the venue tax appeared on the ballot, the Spurs spent almost $3 million and mobilized thousands of rodeo volunteers in its campaign to pass the tax, which won with more than 60 percent of the vote.
Now, the county hopes to spend more than twice what it paid for the arena. A preliminary analysis by the county's budget office found it could issue $415 million in bonds and expect to pay them off, "conservatively," within 35 to 40 years. That analysis assumes a 5 percent revenue growth rate over the first five years, then 1.75 percent growth thereafter — lower than the county's average recent growth rate of 8 percent.
A similar assumption was made with the bonds issued to pay for the AT&T Center, which is why the original debt will be retired in just over half the time expected.
Budget director David Smith told commissioners that if the same conditions hold, this new debt also could be paid off in substantially less time. But he said the economy could sour, requiring a reassessment.
UTSA's project was the highest rated of all the sports facilities pitched to the committee tasked with ranking amateur sports proposals, but was only awarded $10 million of the $50 million it requested. The last-minute change will bump that up to $15 million.
While funding amounts finally are set, the county still doesn't know whether it will be able to put all the projects into one ballot question. It has sought an opinion from the state attorney general and hopes to hear back by next week.
County Judge Nelson Wolff has argued that one question would be less confusing than splitting them up by project, since people technically are voting on extending the tax, which they should only do once.
"We don't want people thinking they're voting for four new taxes," he has said, "or that if they don't vote for one of the projects, that the tax will be less."
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