Treviño: The case for a Cameron County Arena

BROWNSVILLE, Texas – Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño, Jr., has made the case for a “yes” vote on the Cameron County Arena project.

In an in-depth audio interview with the Rio Grande Guardian, Treviño points out that property taxes will not be used to fund the project. Rather, he said, much of the money will come from an existing venue tax source.

“Let’s go back. In the November 2016 election, the voters of Cameron County approved what we call the venue tax. But I think it should more aptly be named the visitor tax,”Treviño said.

“Basically, that visitor venue tax is paid by anyone who stays in a hotel or short term rental or rents a motor vehicle here in Cameron County. That visitor taxes is collected by the short term owner and/or vehicle rental company, so that 2% is a visitor tax, it is not a property tax.”

Treviño gave two examples of projects that have come about as a result of the venue tax – the Isla Blanca Amphitheater on South Padre Island, and the South Texas Ecotourism Center Project at Laguna Vista. 

He said the tax can only be spent on economic development or tourism related projects. “That’s it. You can’t use it to fix your potholes. You can’t use it to fix drainage. You can’t fix it to do anything that’s not tourism or economic development related.”

Editor’s Note: Here is a commercial in support of the arena project by Cameron County Now Political Action Committee:

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Treviño said there has been a lot of “misinformation put out there” that a yes vote is going to impact property taxes, etc. 

“The resolution that the County Commissioners Court approved sets out that this particular project, while it may have other funding sources, the property tax will not be the source of that.”

Asked why the new arena is needed, Treviño said: “The reality is Cameron County is growing at a very, very extreme rate right now, thanks to the development and the expansion of SpaceX, thanks to the commitment at Starbase. And then now you’ve got the LNG industry taking full force at the Port (of Brownsville), along with other potential projects, steel industry related projects, other economic development projects and master planned development. Cameron County as a whole is growing by leaps and bounds.”

Treviño said a new arena in Cameron County will have the potential to be more of a destination venue that the two arenas in Hidalgo County – State Farm in the city of Hidalgo, and Bert Ogden in Edinburg.

“The difference we’ve got here is it would be part of a master planned development. The plan is to develop hotels, restaurants, retail, commercial in that area, kind of a mini La Cantera-type situation, so that if you want to go to an event, a concert…  and you don’t want to be driving back and forth, you want to be able to have a few drinks… you can stay on site at a hotel or whatever, or you can walk to the restaurants before or after a particular event. That’s what I think is going to set this project apart.”

Treviño said that in addition to misinformation about property taxes being used to pay for the arena, some people are saying the county commissioners are going to benefit financially from the project. 

“That’s disappointing, because that’s not how I how I run my life. I would never be in public office, and certainly not for any long, extended, period of time, if that’s how I did things,” he said.

Treviño added that he has been in touch with UT-Rio Grande Valley and its leadership is interested in being part of the arena. He said building a new arena would make it more likely that UTRGV would hold its graduation ceremonies in Cameron County.

Editor’s Note: Here is an audio recording of the Guardian’s interview with Judge Treviño:

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