One proposal in the works for repurposing a sales tax: more flood mitigation

Sales tax dollars that go to the American Bank Center arena and Corpus Christi’s downtown seawall could see big – or only relatively slight – changes, depending on how discussions shake out in the coming months.

While input from the public is still pending town hall meetings, the City Council is continuing to move closer to a more defined proposal.

Two of the city’s voter-approved sales taxes, should they not be renewed, would expire within the next two years.

Set at 1/8-cent each, the two funds are dedicated to specific projects that improve the arena and the downtown seawall.

The upcoming expirations have spurred officials to discuss bringing to voters potentially new projects or tweaking the lineup of project types that would be supported by the funding – talks that will be further hashed out in a City Council workshop Wednesday afternoon.

Some of the ideas floated by city officials include expanding funding that is now used solely for the seawall to include flood mitigation projects around the city, and increasing the scope of the arena sales tax to the entirety of the American Bank Center – which in addition to the arena, includes the convention center and Selena Auditorium.

Any projects that would be considered eligible must be those that either reinforce or bolster economic development efforts.

Reupping both sales taxes would also need the blessing of voters, who would be the final decisionmakers on either reauthorizing or repurposing the existing sales taxes.

Some of the proposals in consideration would establish specific city assets that could receive funding – such as the Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History and Texas State Museum of Asian Cultures and Education Center – according to a draft presentation.

The proposal for expanding flood mitigation beyond the seawall – vocally endorsed by City Councilman Gil Hernandez – would be a way to further support flood mitigation needs around the city that can’t currently be met and also to alleviate storm water fee increases.

“The seawall is only a small part of town,” he said, adding that making other flood mitigation projects qualify for funding would ensure that taxpayers who contribute to the funds all have “a benefit from it.”

The move also would make sense because revenue for the seawall fund grew large enough that money was spent on projects that were unrelated to flood mitigation.

Although the proposition approved by voters more than two decades ago allows for the money to be spent on other economic development projects for the seawall, debate has been raised in recent years on whether voters’ primary intent was to shore up exclusively flood protection.

Residents want to continue with funding the seawall, said City Councilman Jim Klein – and it may be worth considering extending the seawall structure itself further than as it exists currently, where some areas at present are guarded by other flood mitigation infrastructure.

Consideration should also be given to contributing sales tax revenue to city-owned building in the area, such as the South Texas Museum of Art, he said.

“I think those are good assets and we certainly need to take care of those,” Klein said.

A one-eighth-cent sales tax is the equivalent of 12.5 cents per $100, wrote Assistant City Manager Heather Hurlbert in an email to the Caller-Times sent in February.

It is estimated that the arena and seawall funds will each bring nearly $9 million into city coffers this year, the draft presentation shows. City officials also anticipate that renewing the two 1/8-cent sales taxes could yield a combined revenue of about $256 million in a 25-year term, according to the documents.

Discussions on how to approach voters with a proposed reauthorization and repurposing of the two existing sales taxes has been ongoing since the failure of Proposition A in November.

At the time, it had been proposed that – if approved – revenue would go to expanding and renovating the American Bank Center complex, increasing flight options out of the Corpus Christi International Airport, and improving certain parks and certain streets considered to support economic development.

Councilmembers have generally said they will not offer the same proposal to voters – and are making efforts to collect community input ahead of the upcoming election in the fall, as well as include a potential sunset date on any potential propositions, possibly for a 25-year term.

It will be important for residents to attend and give feedback in scheduled town hall meetings, Hernandez said – and especially relevant to the current dialogue on the American Bank Center, he added.

What is presented on the November ballot must be “palatable to the voters,” Hernandez said.

““Ultimately people have to vote on this stuff,” he said. “It’s not going to be just, ‘We’re going to put it out there’ and it will be an automatic thing.”

Community input

A series of town hall meetings has been scheduled for community feedback on the proposed sales tax reauthorizations, as well as a potential bond project package.

All are scheduled for between 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

May 8: Lindale Senior Center, 3135 Swantner Drive.

May 13: Ethyl Everly Senior Center, 654 Graham Rd.

May 15: CCW Building, Choke Canyon Room, 2726 Holly Rd.

May 20: Northwest Senior Center, 9725 Up River Rd. May 22: Del Mar College – Oso Creek campus, culinary arts building, 7002 Yorktown Blvd.

More: THROWBACK: Seawall in downtown Corpus Christi

More: City officials say there were missteps made in Prop A. Here's what that may mean.

This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Talks continue in Corpus Christi on repurposing a sales tax