Recent developments in the whole tawdry mess that we call the El Paso baseball stadium have exposed another lie that the voters have been told over and over.
We have been told that the ball park will be paid for with hotel occupancy taxes and revenues generated by the operation of the stadium.
Texas state law specifically forbids the city to use property taxes to pay for the stadium because of the way the election was held.
Now because of the cost over-runs, inaccurate planning, poor execution, and maybe lying, the chief financial officer of the city has just admitted that they will have to dip into general revenue funds to “augment” the stadium project financing.
How can that not mean using property taxes? We have a budget shortfall this year. The city manager is proposing an increase in property taxes for next year.
If we don’t have enough money to run this city now and we have to take money out of the general revenue funds for the stadium, how can that not effect property taxes?
Hiding the pea
Saying that they will not be using property tax money is simply a play on words. Anyone with a household budget knows this.
The city could however:
Increase revenue by raising fees like traffic tickets, permits, service fees and the like.
Cut services so that the money can be spent instead on the ball park.
Do a better job of collecting the fees that they already impose.
Can they use general fund money?
Admittedly I am not a lawyer. My reading of the Texas law that allowed the creation of the sports venue project is that it requires the voters to authorize specific sources of funds to fund the project.
General revenue sources were not included in that ballot initiative. Chapter 334.0415 of the Texas Local Government Code appears to give the city the right to use other funds under certain circumstances. It would appear that the city will do this.
I also think that what we will ultimately see is that the city will carve out parts of the stadium and declare them to be non-ballpark projects.
We have already seen this with the water and sewer changes that are necessary for the stadium. They are not part of the stadium budget, but instead are being paid for by the water users in the city.
The south entrance to the stadium ($500,000) is being funded out of the quality of life bonds.
I believe that the city is paying $800,000 for art in the stadium with funding outside of the stadium funding.
The city staff tried to take $3,000,000 allocated to downtown street projects and wrap it into the stadium construction contract. Council declined. City staff decided to spend the money on projects around the stadium anyway. They will administer it separately.
Don’t be surprised if some other part of the stadium gets carved out and put into the regular city budget.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
I hate to fuel your fire, but there’s one more thing you need be looking at. The “city” isn’t actually in control of distributing the cash for this. Remember, they created a new little corporate/municiple entity to pull this off to avoid exactly what you list here.
How does the separate entity formed to control the whole thing spend city money? That’s the question you need to be asking.
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You will pay higher taxes to build and maintain the ballpark. You will pay more in taxes. It’s only a question of which taxes will be raised. City sales and use tax will likely be hiked. The cost to maintain the ballpark has also been underestimated, a “mistake” which will not be apparent until the end of the first or second year of operation.
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To David K’s point, the El Paso Downtown Development Corp is basically a special purpose entity. If you want to understand concepts like special purpose entities and off balance sheet financing, place a call to Jeff Skilling, the former CEO of Enron. He has lots of experience with financial engineering. You can reach him at the Federal Correctional Institution in Littleton, Colorado.
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FedUp,
If you haven’t read it, check out a book titled CONSPIRACY OF FOOLS. It’s all about the ENRON scandal, very good read and you are exactly right about a special purpose entity. Skilling named his after things he liked, for example his favorite golf course in the Greater Phoenix area, called the Raptors.
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Why not have the police & fire pension fund just buy the whole bond issue? Keep everything in the family, so to speak. After all, the Shaplite fascists and Carmen A-C were totally confident that AAA will fly and all those hotdog jobs, HOT and hyped up tax-base downtown will pay off the bonds. Didn’t David tell us as much and call us crazies for questioning it?
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Your pension fund idea is brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. There might even be some unsold bonds for them to buy after today.
However, I do not recall ever hearing Elliot Shapleigh come out in support of the ballpark. I know a number of Shapleigh supporters who were also not in favor of the ballpark and especially the destruction of Insights. I am also a little confused as to why “Shaplites” are automatically categorized as supporters of a development driven agenda designed to benefit a few. Seems to me that these true Shaplites and the cabal, as Brutus refers to them, would have opposing views about the ballpark charade.
Please help me with this. Seriously.
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Shaplite facsists on previous CC were: Steve Ortega, Susie Byrd. I use the term “fascist” to mean they supported a corporate interest (MountainStar) subsidy from the taxpayers without the approval of the taxpayers in the form of a straight yes/no vote on the deal. “Keep ’em in the dark and don’t let them vote on it,” per Mayor Cook’s description of the deal that Wilson put together at the behest of M-S. Download democracy at its best with M-S writing the resolution and even the Mayor’s thank-you letter to the League. This is what we pay our city employees to do for us now as we eat the tax increase needed to pay for it all, because the HOT ain’t going to do it like they promised.
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Rotten Peppers,
Thanks for the explanation. I happen to agree with you on Ortega, Byrd, etc., and the handling of this and many other recent city matters. As much as I agree with you on those things, however, I respectfully think its unfair to infer that Mr. Shapleigh is responsible for their behavior. Let’s hold him accountable for his own actions and not those of others, who if anything have violated some of the his principles. Perhaps I am wrong, but I’m guessing that he was violently opposed to the destruction of Insights. I know you and I might disagree on this, but I believe the things we agree on probably greatly outnumber the things on which we disagree. Again, thanks for taking time to provide more insight.
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Here’s a question that I’ve been pondering for quite some time: anywhere from 2-5 years from now, when we have to pay more in taxes and possess an even larger debt than we already have, will the pro-stadium pyschos finally embrace reality and humility by admitting that they were wrong? Of course not. They’ll probably blame the “Shapleighites” or the “Norma commandos” or even the “Pancho Villa brigade” because they’re bat crap crazy. BTW – I recently discovered an “only in el paso” facebook page, and unfortunately I have nothing to do with there funny and clever rants. I am WAAAY to lazy to start anything that resembles a blog, so I’ll just continue to leech-off of this one!
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The blog is about ideas, not people.
Your comments are enjoyed and welcome.
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After noticing the 970 spelling and grammatical errors from my previous response, I just realized that I have a bright future working for the El Paso Times. My problem is, is that my stupidity drowns-out my brilliance.
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