SAN ANTONIO – If the San Antonio Spurs want Bexar County’s help with a new downtown arena, they can’t hog the ball.
At least, that’s the hope.
A proposed, non-binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Spurs, county and City of San Antonio calls for a possible November election to use the county’s venue tax.
That’s a priority of the Spurs organization, which hopes the tax on hotel stays and rental cars will help fund its new arena at the site of the former Institute of Texan Cultures building.
However, the memorandum also calls for collaboration on a county priority: renovating the Frost Bank Center and Freeman Coliseum and redeveloping the area around the Spurs’ current home.
The county hopes to dip into the same tax for that project.
“We have not gone into any specifics, but we’ve been very clear that we have a maximum amount that we can give, but we’re going to take care of our county investment,” Judge Peter Sakai told reporters after commissioners approved the MOU in a 4-1 vote.
“I can only give what I can give,” he said later.
The transfer to the county of the city-owned Willow Springs Golf Course next to the Frost Bank Center is also part of the discussions. The Spurs arena and the city’s wider plans for a sports and entertainment district, known as “Project Marvel,” are also included within the MOU.
City Council will discuss the memorandum on Wednesday afternoon and vote Thursday morning.
Sakai emphasized that “there is no deal.”
“This will start the negotiations in regard to the city, the county and the Spurs in regard to the projects that we have listed in the memorandum of understanding,” Sakai said.
Potential costs
Bexar County Manager David Smith said the county has $397 million of capacity for new projects at the current venue tax rate.
If voters agreed to raise the hotel portion of the tax, the capacity could grow to $448 million.
A new Spurs arena at the site of the former Institute of Texan Cultures building could cost $1.2 billion to $1.5 billion, according to an estimate included in city documents about the MOU.
It’s not clear how much of that cost the team hopes to cover with the venue tax.
Sakai had previously pumped the brakes in January on a plan to put the tax on the May 3 ballot, citing a need for more due diligence and information. Three weeks ago, commissioners gave him permission to negotiate an MOU.
Precinct 3 Commissioner Grant Moody was the only commissioner to vote against what Sakai brought back, calling it “premature.”
“It seems really high level and soft, and it doesn’t really advance project negotiations‚” he said.
The county is anxious to protect the county-owned facilities on the Freeman Coliseum grounds, especially the Frost Bank Center.
A consultant told commissioners on Tuesday that the current arena needs $78 million worth of work over the next five years, and an estimated $245 million over 20 years. However, both estimates were based on keeping the facility at an NBA caliber.
Mike Wooley from the Venue Solutions Group said the county would need to perform a master plan to determine how it would use the arena in the future, which he estimated would take about six months.
Moody was concerned the county would not be able to finish that process in time.
Commissioners would need to order the election by August to make the November ballot. But they’d also need to get the state comptroller to sign off on a plan first, which Moody said would be in July.
Sakai told reporters the master plan “has to be done.”
“We hope to have a presentation sooner than later — well before this November election — so the taxpayer, the voters understand what this county venue tax is all about,” Sakai said.
When asked if he would be comfortable pushing back the tax election further than November if the master plan wasn’t done, Sakai said he would “consider all options.”
Read the proposed MOU below:
Mou by Spencer Heath on Scribd
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