- Corpus Christi City Council begins discussion on repurposing Type A Sales tax
- Building a hotel was not included in the discussion
- In November, voters rejected the city's initial plan on repurposing the tax
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The discussion on how Corpus Christi will use Type A Funds is underway once again. Corpus Christi City Council had a discussion during their meeting Tuesday, tossing around ideas how they might repurpose Type A Funds.
This comes after the city's first plan was rejected at the polls in November. It would have repurpose 1/4 of a cent of sales tax to go towards the expansion of the American Bank Center plus other projects.
There was a late push by people against the measure that shared their displeasure with the plan. Some of those residents are now taking the chance to voice what they want to see happen.
“70 percent of the community said no, 70 percent the majority. We are still against any sales tax in perpetuity, that means forever,” city resident Rachel Caballero said during the council's public comment.
“I think there are some ways to fix the convention center and do upgrades that don’t require this money which I've shared with Manager Zanoni," said David Loeb, a city resident. "So, my general feeling is that we should explore projects that have the ability to alter their neighborhoods and the community as a whole.”
The city has what’s called a Type A fund. It’s a portion of the sales tax the city collects. It is not a new tax. It has restricted to be only used for economic development purposes. However the current use has an expiration date.
There are two parts to Type A Funds. The first, 1/8 of a cent of sales tax currently goes towards the American Bank Center to pay off the debt and some maintenance. That measure expires in 2025.
Another 1/8 cent of sales tax is dedicated to the seawall debt and maintenance. That will expire in 2026.
So, while that money will still be collected, it will need a new place to be spent. City Manager Peter Zanoni gathered feedback from council and some stakeholders about what they’d like the money to go towards.
Ideas are being tossed around about how the sales tax can be repurposed again in a way people will support.
“If we make this too complicated people are going to vote against it, they just will. Because if they don’t understand it the easy answer is no.”
A priority for the council is fixing the maintenance issues at the American Bank Center and possibly some renovations. Council members raised concerns about the other city owned attractions around ABC that also require maintenance. They talked about that being included.
Regional parks upgrades were put out there as well as some specific road repairs, both things that appeared in the first plan.
A couple things that caused the hang up in the November election.
The city’s definition the ABC Complex included a potential hotel. Residents and hoteliers voiced strong opposition in the city having a hand in bringing in a headquarters hotel.
The second issue for some is there was no end date of when this purpose for the tax will end. This time around council discussed a ten year or 20 year time frame.
Some new ideas were also introduced. Zanoni said to avoid using Type A Funds on the ABC, they may be able to use a portion of the city's hotel occupancy tax.
Another idea was to only use 1/8 of the Type A Funds and not the combined 1/4 as previously proposed.
"I think of all the people I've talked to since November, the strong consensus amongst the council and the community to keep this 1/8 cent for seawall and other coastal wide flooding defense," Zanoni said.
Zanoni has already spoken to several groups to start the open dialogue on this process. He said those were brief conversations.
Communication was an issue for residents during the first plan.
“I want to urge you to continue that discussion with wider community listening sessions to get ideas and feedback on potential projects to fund with the two sales taxes," Loeb said.
Tuesday was only a discussion among the council and decisions are far from being made. However, one decision being leaned towards was having something on the ballot in this year’s November election.
The next step, city staff will speak with stakeholders in the area and get their feedback. They plan to also talk to hoteliers this time around. Then, the community can share thoughts during two open meetings, tentatively one is scheduled in April and one in May.
