duncan228
07-18-2008, 01:25 AM
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Spurs_paid_bulk_of_tab.html
Spurs paid bulk of tab
Tracy Idell Hamilton - Express-News
Supporters of the venue tax often said they would spend “whatever it takes” to win voter approval for extending it, and the final campaign finance report shows the effort's biggest backer did exactly that.
The San Antonio Spurs wrote a check for more than $710,000 in late June to pay off the campaign's outstanding bills, pushing the total price tag for victory to almost $2 million — roughly twice what the campaign's backers had anticipated spending.
The team contributed three-quarters of that total.
The Spurs stand to benefit from $75 million worth of upgrades to the county-owned AT&T Center, which Spurs Chairman Peter Holt has insisted are necessary to increase revenues and stay competitive in the NBA.
The arena is owned by Bexar County but is largely controlled by the team, which keeps all the revenue it generates, except for the three weeks when the building is occupied by the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo.
Voters on May 10 approved keeping in place a 1.75 percent tax on hotel rooms and a 5 percent tax on rental cars to pay for projects in four major categories: $125 million for river improvements, $110 million for the arts, $80 million for 13 amateur sports complexes and $100 million for enhancements to the AT&T Center, Freeman Coliseum and the rodeo grounds.
First enacted by voters in 1999 to pay for the then-SBC Center, the tax will pay off the arena ahead of schedule. Rather than let the tax expire, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff proposed using it for big-ticket civic improvement projects.
With 7 percent of county voters weighing in, the tax passed by wide margins, from 75 percent for the river to 57 percent for the community arenas.
The final campaign finance report filed by ACT (Athletics, Culture and Tourism) for San Antonio, the political action committee created by marketing firm Guerra DeBerry Coody, which was hired to run the campaign, showed it took in $1.04 million from May 1 through the end of June.
Two previous campaign finance reports, filed 30 days and seven days before the election, respectively, reported donations of roughly $922,000, bringing the total spent on the campaign to $1.96 million.
“That's more, I think, than we anticipated on the front end,” said Joe Krier, who served as the campaign's treasurer, and had estimated a million-dollar campaign. “But I'm proud that we raised a half a million dollars from the non-Spurs community.”
No one hit up for cash said no, he said, “but we could only reach so many people in the time we had.”
The Spurs' $710,282.53 made up the majority of the final haul. That amount was paid on June 24, according to the report, and on that day and the next, the campaign paid its final bills.
Leo Gomez, vice president of Spurs Sports and Entertainment, said the payment was “absolutely” to help close out the campaign. “The investors said they were committed to supporting all four proposals and that's exactly what they did,” he said.
Most of the money went to Public Strategies, Inc., of Dallas, which coordinated the media campaign, and was paid just over $551,000. Guerra DeBerry Coody was paid almost $350,000, $211,000 of that for “campaign counsel.”
A final poll by Baselice & Associates, taken the week before the May 10 election, cost about $24,000, while an analysis of the visitor tax campaign by TXP of Austin cost $25,000.
“Grass-roots” get-out-the-vote efforts, including block walking, van rides to polling places and sign wavers, cost almost $70,000.
Of that, Ramon & Associates, a South Side political consultant, was paid $24,700. Owner JoAnn Ramon also sat on the venue tax's sports subcommittee, which chose the amateur sports projects that would ultimately get venue tax funding.
Trish DeBerry of Guerra DeBerry Coody said Ramon was “only one member of a large and diverse community volunteer group,” and that she was hired for her “professional status” to help get the campaign's message out. “JoAnn routinely is hired on campaigns,” DeBerry wrote in an e-mail, “because that's what she does for a living.”
COPS/Metro Alliance, a community group that came out in favor of the amateur sports portion of the tax, was paid $5,000 for block walking and fliers.
Bexar County commissioners are currently finalizing individual agreements for each project. All 13 amateur sports projects will have funds available by the end of this year, said Mike Sculley, director of community venue projects.
Spurs paid bulk of tab
Tracy Idell Hamilton - Express-News
Supporters of the venue tax often said they would spend “whatever it takes” to win voter approval for extending it, and the final campaign finance report shows the effort's biggest backer did exactly that.
The San Antonio Spurs wrote a check for more than $710,000 in late June to pay off the campaign's outstanding bills, pushing the total price tag for victory to almost $2 million — roughly twice what the campaign's backers had anticipated spending.
The team contributed three-quarters of that total.
The Spurs stand to benefit from $75 million worth of upgrades to the county-owned AT&T Center, which Spurs Chairman Peter Holt has insisted are necessary to increase revenues and stay competitive in the NBA.
The arena is owned by Bexar County but is largely controlled by the team, which keeps all the revenue it generates, except for the three weeks when the building is occupied by the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo.
Voters on May 10 approved keeping in place a 1.75 percent tax on hotel rooms and a 5 percent tax on rental cars to pay for projects in four major categories: $125 million for river improvements, $110 million for the arts, $80 million for 13 amateur sports complexes and $100 million for enhancements to the AT&T Center, Freeman Coliseum and the rodeo grounds.
First enacted by voters in 1999 to pay for the then-SBC Center, the tax will pay off the arena ahead of schedule. Rather than let the tax expire, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff proposed using it for big-ticket civic improvement projects.
With 7 percent of county voters weighing in, the tax passed by wide margins, from 75 percent for the river to 57 percent for the community arenas.
The final campaign finance report filed by ACT (Athletics, Culture and Tourism) for San Antonio, the political action committee created by marketing firm Guerra DeBerry Coody, which was hired to run the campaign, showed it took in $1.04 million from May 1 through the end of June.
Two previous campaign finance reports, filed 30 days and seven days before the election, respectively, reported donations of roughly $922,000, bringing the total spent on the campaign to $1.96 million.
“That's more, I think, than we anticipated on the front end,” said Joe Krier, who served as the campaign's treasurer, and had estimated a million-dollar campaign. “But I'm proud that we raised a half a million dollars from the non-Spurs community.”
No one hit up for cash said no, he said, “but we could only reach so many people in the time we had.”
The Spurs' $710,282.53 made up the majority of the final haul. That amount was paid on June 24, according to the report, and on that day and the next, the campaign paid its final bills.
Leo Gomez, vice president of Spurs Sports and Entertainment, said the payment was “absolutely” to help close out the campaign. “The investors said they were committed to supporting all four proposals and that's exactly what they did,” he said.
Most of the money went to Public Strategies, Inc., of Dallas, which coordinated the media campaign, and was paid just over $551,000. Guerra DeBerry Coody was paid almost $350,000, $211,000 of that for “campaign counsel.”
A final poll by Baselice & Associates, taken the week before the May 10 election, cost about $24,000, while an analysis of the visitor tax campaign by TXP of Austin cost $25,000.
“Grass-roots” get-out-the-vote efforts, including block walking, van rides to polling places and sign wavers, cost almost $70,000.
Of that, Ramon & Associates, a South Side political consultant, was paid $24,700. Owner JoAnn Ramon also sat on the venue tax's sports subcommittee, which chose the amateur sports projects that would ultimately get venue tax funding.
Trish DeBerry of Guerra DeBerry Coody said Ramon was “only one member of a large and diverse community volunteer group,” and that she was hired for her “professional status” to help get the campaign's message out. “JoAnn routinely is hired on campaigns,” DeBerry wrote in an e-mail, “because that's what she does for a living.”
COPS/Metro Alliance, a community group that came out in favor of the amateur sports portion of the tax, was paid $5,000 for block walking and fliers.
Bexar County commissioners are currently finalizing individual agreements for each project. All 13 amateur sports projects will have funds available by the end of this year, said Mike Sculley, director of community venue projects.