Council hears from public on Major League Soccer stadium terms
After taking a break from meetings in July, the Austin City Council re-convened on August 1 for a special-called meeting about Major League Soccer in Austin.
Quick recap: Anthony Precourt, owner of Ohio's ColumbusCrew wants to move his team here and foot the bill for a $200 million stadium on the city-owned McKalla Place next to the Domain.
Not all Austin taxpayers are cool with the idea.
"I have no problem with the team coming here, I think they ought to buy land, private land. And they ought to pay taxes and they ought to run their business like everyone else," said Susan Spataro.
Spataro spoke at Wednesday's meeting. One of several speakers who commented on the subsidizing.
"What I'm most disturbed about is we have a bond election coming up with some really, really important things that need funding and I'm just a little astonished that we would be asking taxpayers to give away a subsidy to a private entity, profit-making entity and then asking taxpayers to borrow money for a bunch of fundamental and essential services," said Gary Price.
According to the 25-page term sheet drawn up after a month of negotiations, Precourt Sports Ventures would not pay property taxes on the site. But they would pay $550,000 in annual rent starting on the 6th year of the lease.
“This is just, I think a once in a generation opportunity for the city. There’s a long line of cities ahead of us that are on the official expansion team list so we wouldn't get a soccer team for decades if we don't take advantage of this opportunity,” said soccer fan Luke Metzger.
After Spataro spoke at the meeting, Mayor Adler asked her if she was being paid to advocate against the plan.
Spataro says she does do property tax work for Circuit of the Americas where a United Soccer League team will start playing next spring. But she says it's offensive that anyone against Precourt’s plan is being accused of taking payment for advocating against it.
“No, I am not paid for this, this is...absolutely my conviction,” she said.
Council Member Delia Garza is supportive of the stadium but she says her biggest concern is the lack of any clear investment in Austin’s public transit system.
She’s hoping to provide Cap Metro with $3 million, not taken from Precourt’s rent, for a possible rail station near the stadium.
“Even if this money is not allocated for the rail station it could be allocated to impact frequency for that bus line that's already there, it could help build a better station that could have a higher capacity for passengers,” she said.
Attorney Richard Suttle represents Precourt. FOX 7 asked if there was any wiggle room in the term sheet when it comes to transit.
“It depends on the priority. If transit's a priority over some of the other things that we've offered then we just need to reallocate the resources. There’s a finite amount of resources that can be spent on this project,” Suttle said.
Council is discussing other options for McKalla Place besides soccer next week and they’re expected to vote on Precourt’s plan next Thursday.