Senate Bill Could Kill Deal to Build Pro Soccer Stadium in Austin

[TexasTowelie]

A bill making its way through the Senate could kill a deal that would bring the city its first major league sports team, Austin FC, according to Precourt Sports Ventures President Dave Greeley.

At a hearing on Tuesday evening, Greeley told the Senate Property Tax Committee that the bill would “jeopardize the viability of Austin FC” because “our funding mechanism and debt obligation would be in peril.” PSV would eventually operate the team and is privately financing the $225 million stadium, to be constructed at McKalla Place, which is owned by the city of Austin.

SB 1771, authored by the committee’s chairman, Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, would allow taxing jurisdictions which overlap with the city-owned lot to decide if they want to take in property taxes from PSV’s use of the stadium – even though a crucial aspect of the deal between PSV and the city exempted the former from paying taxes on the 24-acre vacant lot. The new rule would apply statewide, but Bettencourt acknowledged that the PSV deal with the city of Austin made him aware of the “anomaly” in the tax code – the “anomaly” being other municipalities (in this case, Austin ISD, ACC, Central Health, and Travis County) lacking the ability to have a voice in tax abatement decisions that affect their constituents.

The hearing saw a return of familiar names to those who followed the #MLS2ATX saga at City Hall. Susan Spataro, the former Travis County auditor who regularly attended neighborhood and City Council meetings to speak against the deal, showed up once again to rail against the unfairness of the deal. Former Travis County Judge Bill Aleshire, who has spent the years since retiring from public office waging legal battles against the city (including threatening a lawsuit over the MLS deal), also testified in support of the bill. “[It’s] very important that the people who elect these other jurisdictions have a voice through them and not have the Austin City Council dictating exemptions to other jurisdictions,” he told the committee.

Read more: https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2019-04-17/senate-bill-could-kill-deal-to-build-pro-soccer-stadium-in-austin/

[Javaman]

1. this stadium will be built in my neighborhood...

I know the area well. this stadium would created a traffic nightmare anytime there is an event or a game.

the interesting part about all of this is, the circuit of america is building a stadium right now as we speak. COA told the city that they would completely fund the stadium they are building at no added cost to the city.

the city council refused to even listen to the deal.

the whole issue with the current location, located off of breaker road is all about money and location near the domain.

someone is standing to make a bucket load of money off of this, but it won't be me. Our district voted against this thing, but all the others voted for it. It's a great thing IF YOU DON'T HAVE LIVE NEXT TO IT.

I have seen the plans for this monstrosity. did you know that there won't be adequate parking? the city argues that "public transportation" will fill the need for additional parking spaces. which, if you live in Austin, is a complete an utter joke.

this whole thing from the get go has been nothing but a giant money grab.

austin has completely sold it's soul for mega-bucks. I don't retire for a number of years yet, but as soon as I can, I'm getting the hell out of this texas baked faux disneyland that austin has become.