SAN ANTONIO – What else could Bexar County build with its venue tax instead of a Spurs arena?
It’s a question COPS/Metro is trying to get Bexar County voters to ask themselves before they head to the polls in less than three weeks.
Proposition B will ask voters whether to use the venue tax on hotel stays and car rentals to fund up to $311 million toward the construction of a $1.3 billion Spurs arena at Hemisfair. If they approve, the hotel portion of the tax would also go up to 2% from 1.75%, though the car rental portion would stay flat at 5%.
COPS/Metro, an activism coalition of different community groups, has been among the most vocal opponents of using public funding for the arena project — something it reiterated at a Thursday morning news conference on the steps of City Hall.
The full Thursday morning COPS/Metro news conference can be seen below.
“Our scarce public funds are not play toys,” said Ken Amerson, a leader with COPS/Metro. “They’re for public projects, for the common good.”
The ways the venue tax can be used are limited by state law, but the group said an arena is not the only option.
Though it was created to help fund the construction of Spurs’ current home, the Frost Bank Center, voters also approved a host of other projects in 2008 worth $415 million.
Performing and cultural arts venues like the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts and Briscoe Western Art Museum received $110 million.
There was $80 million for youth and amateur sports facilities like Mission Concepcion Sports Park or the Northside Swim Center.
And though county-owned facilities got another $100 million, including a renovation for the Frost Bank Center, San Antonio River improvements like the Mission and Museum Reach projects received the most money: $125 million.
COPS/Metro leader Mike Phillips said the group wants to see “a range of community projects similar to what was done in 2008, when the citizens voted on millions of dollars worth of improvements all across the city, instead of just one big project downtown.”
If voters shoot down Prop B, he said it would give the county time to create a new citizen committee to consider and vet the possibilities.
“We would imagine there would be dozens of projects that fit within the guidelines of a venue tax funding stream,” Phillips said.
The county funding within Prop B is a critical piece of the arena funding scheme between the county, City of San Antonio and the Spurs. It’s also the only one on which the public will have a say.
If voters don’t approve the county portion of the arena funding, the current deal would collapse.
The city’s share of up to $489 million doesn’t require voter approval, though San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones has repeatedly said the city should put it on a ballot anyway.
County voters will be asked separately on Proposition A whether to raise and use the venue tax to overhaul the coliseum grounds surrounding the Spurs’ current home in hopes of attracting more year-round, rodeo-style events once the team leaves.
COPS/Metro has stayed neutral on Prop A.
In a statement emailed by his chief of staff, Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai said, “This is an exercise in democracy. Every eligible Bexar County voter will get their opportunity to express their opinion about what’s best for the community by exercising their constitutionally protected right to vote on November 4, 2025.”
Early voting begins Oct. 20.
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