CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Corpus Christi's Proposition A on the upcoming election is drawing criticism from around the city.
Corpus Christi City Council held a public hearing, as is required by state law, during their regular meeting on Tuesday. Council members first received a refresher presentation from Assistant City Manager Heather Hurlbert before making comments.
“The fact that we’re having this, [inaudible] questions from the council should indicate that we weren’t very well informed or maybe had quite the understanding we should have before putting it on the ballot,” Councilman Gil Hernandez said.
Councilman Michael Hunter felt that the process was rushed to get this on the ballot. He even suggested postponing the election until Nov. 2024.
"If this fails, we will have to spend so much money educating the public and meeting with the public to redesign this for the following year just so that it doesn't fail by default. And, that concerns me, and that should concern everyone," he said.
Proposition A has voters decided if the city can re-purpose how Type A Funds are used. Type A money currently uses a small portion of city sales tax. Right now, the city can only spend that money on maintenance and paying off the debt of the American Bank Center (ABC) and paying maintenance and the debt of the Seawall.
Those obligations expire in 2025 and 2026 respectively.
Once those obligations are completed, the proposition asks if voters would approve that money, 1/4 of a cent of a dollar of sales tax, to be put towards regional parks, industrial and commercial road repairs, attracting new flight destinations, and the Convention Center Complex.
Included in that is at least 5% of the funds have to go to regional parks, at least 5% to industrial roads, at least 5% to the Convention Center Complex, and a maximum of 5% to attracting new flight destinations. That was decided on by the City Council.
Last week, Voters For Good Government came out to say they opposed the proposition because they didn't like the idea of a city and private sector project.
David Loeb, a member of Voters For Good Government, voiced his issues with Proposition A and how it essentially comes down to a trust problem.
“I think the city did not trust us, the voters, with putting a hotel on the ballot. And, I don’t think we should trust them on spending our money on a hotel,” he said.
One of Loeb's issues was the wording on the ballot. He found it deceitful that the language on the ballot doesn't mention the word "hotel."
"The ballot and city information pieces are deceptive," he said. "That proves the intent was to hide this from the voters and you, our elected leaders. They only do that when they know it's a bad idea."
The city's reasoning includes a few parts. The language on the ballot is limited in characters and has to condense the numerous projects listed in the proposition. So, the key pieces get listed on the ballot.
Secondly, when council approved the proposition to get it on the ballot, they also passed resolutions. Those resolutions provide definitions to words seen on the ballot, such as what a regional park is and what's included in the Convention Center Complex.
The Convention Center Complex is defined to include the arena, convention center, Selena Auditorium, the Seawall, and a headquarters hotel.
For those opposing Proposition A, there are two arguments. They don't want the city to own a hotel, which was clarified on Tuesday.
“We will not own a hotel. We will not be building one," said City Manager Peter Zanoni. "We haven’t even gotten any proposals yet. It could be that nobody wants to do a hotel deal with the City of Corpus Christi.”
The city has previously been involved with private hotel owners and has programs that provide incentives to these owners. According to Zanoni, hotels receiving those incentives as of late are the Emerald Beach Hotel, Homewood Suites, and Residence Inn.
Among those opposed to the Proposition are Nueces County Republican Party, Nueces County Democratic Party, the Libertarian Party of Nueces County, Corpus Christi Taxpayers Association and about two dozen hotel owners.
Another issue is those opposed don't want tax dollars used to build a hotel.
Hurlbert clarified that little to no money would be going towards the hotel from Type A funds. She said the intent is to use Type A funds primarily for the repairs and expansion of the ABC.
"In Type A, hotels have been included as an eligible use, but the intention is that if it does receive any type of tax benefit from the Type A, it would be from the sales tax that the hotel produces," she said.
Hurlbert added that should a private developer come along to build a hotel, the incentives the city would give would not come from Type A and would come from other sources, like the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone #3.
Not all are opposed to the proposition, with several people speaking up during the hearing to voice their approval of the proposition.
One of the complainants was Johnny Philipello, president and CEO of the Buccaneer Commission. He said the commission voted unanimously to support it.
“If the private sector invests, the return on investment the city’s going to receive from sales tax, HOT tax, beverage tax the state has given to us to incentive is huge. And, nobody wants to talk about that," he said. "To me, you can't just talk about the expense side of business when there's a revenue side too that goes into the equation."
Visit Corpus Christi has continually voiced support for the project because of the tourism it could bring to the city.
“When you look at the overall number, and you see 100 positive points and three possibly negative points, then you have to make a decision. Do you follow it? Do you vote for it or against it? And, when the percentage is that high, you vote for it,” Sam Canavati, the board chairman of Visit Corpus Christi, said.
Essentially, Loeb said people are upset because there was no input on what the tax money should be used for. Type A funds are restricted by law to only be put towards items or projects that create economic development.
"Financially, it won't succeed. Their own math in their own study says it will lose $48 million a year. And, I think most people, that's $1.4 billion over 30 years. And, I think most people would say let's repave every street in the community, or let's educate people, let's fix our parks...There's a lot of things I think people want or need more so than a convention hotel that virtually none of us will ever stay in or enter," Loeb said.
Those opposed to the proposition had an added fire to speak up during the public hearing. Many were angered by the comments made about those opposed to Proposition A by Zanoni during a radio interview on The Bob Jones Show.
“I think there’s confusion caused by narrow interest groups out there. Narrow-minded, self-serving interest groups,” Zanoni said.
Joshua Tijerina, director of sales for Hawthorne Suites and Candlewood Suites, directed remarks at Zanoni during the hearing.
“That was incredibly insulting. After you spent a week trying to convince us to support this thing. It was insulting to us, It was insulting to me,” Tijerina said.
The city announced a press conference would be held to speak more about Proposition A. It will take place Wednesday at 9 a.m. in the Selena Rotunda at ABC.
City officials were not available for additional interviews, but city staff provided this statement:
"The City of Corpus Christi has made efforts to involve the public in the development of the convention center complex. There have been ongoing discussions during City Council meetings where citizens have provided their input and feedback. However, we acknowledge that more can always be done to enhance public engagement, and we will continue to foster transparent discussions moving forward. Next week the City will host an informational virtual town hall, which will include an opportunity for the community to submit live questions for staff to answer.
The City owns a large segment of the land around the American Bank Center. There are no plans for the city to purchase any additional land.
While the total potential project, which includes the American Bank Center renovation and expansion, connected hotel, and entertainment district, is estimated to be $725 million, the Type A funds would primarily be used for the repair, renovation, and expansion of the American Bank Center which is estimated at $231M. The $725M project will be funded with a combination of private sector investment, Type A funding, local hotel occupancy tax, and the Downtown Tax Increment financing zone, along with the state’s portion of sales and hotel occupancy tax revenues. The City of Corpus Christi will continue to inform and education the public regarding Proposition A and the potential impacts to the community."
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