District 10 Councilman Marc Whyte speaks in favor of agreeing to a term sheet with Spurs Sports & Entertainment during Thursday's meeting. Michael Karlis" class="uk-display-block uk-position-relative uk-visible-toggle"> click to enlarge District 10 Councilman Marc Whyte speaks in favor of agreeing to a term sheet with Spurs Sports & Entertainment during Thursday's meeting. - Michael Karlis
Michael Karlis
District 10 Councilman Marc Whyte speaks in favor of agreeing to a term sheet with Spurs Sports & Entertainment during Thursday's meeting.
San Antonio City Council voted 7-4 Thursday in favor of moving forward with a term sheet negotiated between City Manager Erik Walsh and Spurs Sports & Entertainment (SS&E) that lays out financing for a new downtown Spurs arena.
Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones, District 6 Councilman Ric Galvan, District 5 Councilwoman Teri Castillo and Interim District 2 Councilman Leo Castillo-Anguiano voted against the measure.
Under the non-binding term sheet, the city is on the hook for $489 million for a new arena. Those funds would come from a combination of property taxes and visitor taxes collected around Hemisfair, along with ground leases.
Earlier in Thursday's meeting, Jones proposed an item calling a strategic pause on negotiations with SS&E until a second economic impact analysis can be conducted on the project. Although that measure failed on a 4-7 vote, the mayor made it clear she isn’t going down without a fight.
Although the primary funding for the arena wouldn't come from the city's general fund, Jones said at the meeting's conclusion that she believes she can call a May public vote whether to issue the revenue bond needed to cover construction of the new sports facility.
Even so, there was confusion at City Hall among whether she had to do the aurhority to call such an election.
The term sheet the city agreed to with SS&E on Thursday is only valid as long as voters approve Bexar County's November ballot proposal to increase the visitor's tax to 2%. If that vote fails, the agreement falls apart.
"It's not necessary," District 7 Marina Alderete Gavito told the Current after the meeting of a public vote by San Antonio residents. "In the term sheet, our $489 million for the city is contingent upon the county's $311 million. So essentially, when voters approve the county's [in November], it's contingent funding."
When reporters asked Jones after the meeting whether she'd inquired with City Manager Andy Segovia and City Attorney Erik Walsh about whether such an election is legally possible, she declined to answer.
"I'm not going to go into those discussions at this time," the mayor said.
Following the meeting, Spurs Chairman Peter J. Holt told told reporters he's unsure what the team will do if the November vote fails. However, he said he remains confident voters will approve the new arena deal and the county's proposal.
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