And he sins who hastens with his feet."
Proverbs 19:2
Couple interesting developments on the soccer front this week. The first illustrates how incompetent the City was in structuring the deal. The second illustrates how out of touch Precourt is with our community.
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This is almost too amazing to believe:
Travis County isn’t giving up on collecting tax dollars on a potential Major League Soccer stadium that the Austin City Council waived in a deal approved last week.Seriously?!? They didn't consult with the county?!?
As part of the agreement struck Wednesday to build a $200 million stadium in North Austin, the City Council and Precourt Sports Ventures agreed the facility would not produce property tax revenue. Under the deal, the city would own the land and stadium and lease it back to Precourt.
Travis County commissioners unanimously voted Tuesday to “authorize the county attorney to preserve the county’s right to challenge the tax-exempt status of the stadium company’s use of city property.”
They also voted to “pursue negotiations with the city and other local taxing entities on expectations for preserving taxable value in the redevelopment of publicly owned real estate.”
....
The district has not yet started its review of the property, but Travis County commissioners could make their views known while the district is evaluating the property or file an appeal afterward if the district grants the exemption.
The terms of the stadium deal are sprinkled with the phrase “public purpose,” which appears half a dozen times.
“The Stadium will be owned by the City and used for the enjoyment, health, comfort, and welfare of the public,” the term sheet states under a section on property taxes.
The terms also say the city will “reasonably cooperate” with Precourt in asserting its right to the tax-exemption and acknowledges the possibility of a challenge.
It states the company and affiliates have the right to “assert, insist upon, continue, and restate this intent in any agency, forum, or court having jurisdiction and at which the question may arise or be presented.”
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Nieto said the city never reached out to Travis County during its negotiations with Precourt.
[Note: Emphasis added.]
Did they not think that other taxing jurisdictions would not want their cut?!?
This is a perfect example of the point we made during our second public testimony: The rushed process made it extremely likely that there would be undotted legal "i's" and uncrossed legal "t's" that could undermine the deal.
Council chose not to listen [Note: What else is new?!?]. They went ahead anyway. Now they own it.
Oh well.
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On Thursday, Precourt released the proposed team logo and color scheme:
Black?!? In Texas?!? During the SUMMER?!?
In case you missed it, this was the weather in Austin on Thursday:
On a day when it was 104 outside (with a 108 heat index), Precourt announces Black as a team color.
Got it.
God forbid you ever have to play a day game in August.
[Note: The choice of Black and Green is also dumb and has no connection to the community (no surprise there), but that can probably be overcome over time.]
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Bottom Line: D-E-B-A-C-L-E and we've barely gotten started....
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