Cameron County judge makes final pitch for arena proposition

On the eve of the election that will decide the fate of Cameron County’s latest attempt to allow the use of visitor tax revenue to get the ball rolling on an arena project, county Judge Eddie Treviño Jr. said he hopes voters can look past what he characterizes as misinformation.

The question will appear on tomorrow’s ballot as “Proposition A, which is passed will allow the existing sports/community venue tax (2 percent from hotel room bookings and car rentals in the county), to be used to jump start a mixed-use arena project.” The 10,000-seat facility would anchor the Madeira residential-commercial development on I-69E halfway between Brownsville and Harlingen.

“We’ve tried to explain and provide the accurate information, that is election is only to approve the use of the visitor/venue tax on this project,” Treviño said. “There’s still a lot of work to be done. We’ve never said that the visitor tax or the venue tax would pay for the entire project, because it won’t. … We’ve made that clear many, many times. There are other avenues that we need to explore, but this is the county’s way to utilize the visitor tax.”

Many people are under the mistaken assumption that property taxes would go up as a result of the project, he said.

“This has nothing to do with with your property taxes,” Treviño said. “This visitor tax will continue to be collected after this election, win or lose. But if we continue to delay taking advantage of this opportunity I think this community will regret it.”

Treviño said he’s heard positive feedback from most of those he’s spoken with on the issue.

“They know the positive potential impact that this project will have in a number of different areas, especially improving the quality of life and having the amenities that will make our county much more attractive to other companies and other investment to spur that economic development,” Treviño said.

He said he doesn’t get why anyone would be opposed to using the venue tax to at least try to get the project off the ground.

“At the end of the day, if we’re not able to come up with the necessary funding through either a public/private partnership, then it doesn’t happen,” Treviño said. “But having skin in the game, which is this venue tax, allows us to be able to look for the other sources of money and support, both in the public and the private sector, without impacting at all the property taxes.”

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