City officials say there were missteps made in Prop A. Here's what that may mean.

Corpus Christi Caller-Times
Kirsten Crow, Corpus Christi Caller Times
November 15, 2023

In the aftermath of voters’ decisive blow to Corpus Christi’s Proposition A, city officials are looking for a path forward in potentially reworking the ballot initiative to present again next year and avoiding what some have considered as missteps in the earlier process.

Proposition A had posed on the ballot a request to repurpose some of the existing voter-approved sales taxes, directing revenue primarily benefit the convention center and surrounding area.

Among the sentiments driving voters to shoot down the proposition by a margin of nearly 70% was insufficient public input, several city officials and other community organization leaders have said.

The election counts, considered unofficial until ratified, will be canvassed Friday.

Improvements at the American Bank Center arena, seen on Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2023, in Corpus Christi, Texas, were part of the plans in this yerar's Prop. A, A ballot measure soundly rejected by voters this month.
Angela Piazza/Caller-Times

The voters’ message was delivered, City Councilwoman Sylvia Campos said Tuesday.

“We all want to move our city forward, we all want what’s best for our citizens,” she said. “Just know this, people, that we hear you and we’re listening to you and we want your input.”

It’s evident additional community feedback is needed, City Manager Peter Zanoni told the council, but he added that he believes there remains a general goal among the community and the council to improve the convention center.

“Obviously the electorate was not in agreement with what we put forward,” he said. “So we’ll rework it and we’ll bring it back.”

If the proposition had been approved as presented, it would have replaced a 1/8-cent sales tax for the arena and a 1/8-cent sales tax for the seawall with a ¼-cent sales tax that would allocate its revenue to certain parks and streets, attracting new destination flights at the airport, and primarily a “convention center complex.”

The convention center complex, as defined in city records, would encompass the renovation and expansion of the convention center itself, the arena, the Selena auditorium, the seawall, unspecified ancillary projects and a potential headquarters hotel.

City officials have said funding would have been intended to be used as tax incentives for a private sector developer to build and operate the hotel.

But it’s largely believed that inclusion of a new hotel in the eligible projects list – with no qualifiers on how funding could be used and by what dollar amount and what process – played an outsized role in the proposition’s failure.

There would be an option to return a version of sales tax repuposement to the ballot in 2024 or 2025, ahead of the expiration of one or both sales taxes for the seawall and arena.

They expire in March 2026 and September 2025, respectively.

Several city officials have said that should the initiative be reworked, it would eliminate the hotel entirely.

At least one councilmember has suggested that moving ahead may also include potentially firing consultants who had worked on a proposed master plan for the convention center and surrounding area, producing a report that City Councilman Mike Pusey said became an “800-pound chain around the neck of this council and this city as well.”

Some suggestions for additional input have included forming committees and expanding stakeholder groups.

In the meantime, work is continuing to improve the arena, convention center and Selena auditorium, city officials said.

In all, there is about $12 million in existing sales tax revenue for improvements to the area, and $5 million available in hotel occupancy taxes to fund improvements at the convention center and Selena auditorium, officials have said.

On one of the bigger items, the council approved a purchase of about $3 million for two replacement chillers for the arena Tuesday.