HELP
SUPPORT THE CONVENTION CENTER/ARENA IN OMAHA BY SPENDING YOUR
TAX RELIEF CHECK
At least, that is what Mayor Mike Fahey and members of the
City Council hope it will happen. A significant portion of
the financing for the convention center/arena is based on the
assumption that tax revenues, including sales tax, will
continue to grow.
Front-end payments totaling nearly $2.6
million for the project are putting quite a crimp in the
city's budget. Total debt the city has taken on for building
the facility is $198 million.
Aides to the mayor remain adamant that
taxes will not be raised to finance the convention center and
arena. Sewer fees, however, are expected to go up to pay for
improvements for the Gallup campus along the riverfront.
Currently, 17.05 cents of every $100 assessed in property
taxes is expected to go towards the debt. This is expected to
bring in nearly $33 million next year.
The financial squeeze on the city is
expected to last not more than 2 years, according to the
mayor's financial aides. |
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Original Article
Published Wednesday July 25, 2001
Until Nebraska voters decided not to support riverboat gambling
several years ago, most folks living in Omaha paid little
attention to what was happening on the Iowa side of the river.
Opponents who lobbied against having the riverboats dock on
Nebraska shores insisted that they would only encourage more
crime.
While it may be true that such crimes as bank
robberies have gone up since riverboat gambling was introduced,
it is also true that Iowa has reaped many benefits from their
partnership with the owners of the gambling facilities. One of
which may be their contribution to help fund the new convention
center-arena in Council Bluffs.
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The Mid-America Recreation
& Convention Complex in Council Bluffs |
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Although the facility in Council Bluffs will seat only half of
the amount planned for the new Omaha convention center-arena, it
is expected to be about one fourth of the cost. Most of that is
being paid by donations and low-interest loans.
The Council Bluffs facility is also expected to be
profitable by its second year, whereas it is expected to take at
least five years before the Omaha facility will turn a profit.
Omaha has
issued more than $200 million in municipal bonds to pay for its
arena construction and is faced with the ongoing job of
attracting large-scale venues to cover the costs. Council Bluffs
already has one primary tenant - the Omaha Lancers hockey team.
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Final Architectural Plan for
the Omaha Convention Center-Arena |
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Another difference is the way each facility will be managed.
Council Bluffs is negotiating with a private company, SMG Inc.,
to handle operations, while the non-profit Metropolitan
Entertainment and Convention Authority (MECA) will oversee the
day-to-day operations of the Omaha facility.
SMG is a Philadelphia-based
company that manages more than 70 venues, including facilities as
large as Chicago's Soldier Field (seating 67,000) or as small as
the Peoria Civic Center Theater (seating 2,184).
SMG is owned
by the Hyatt hotel chain and Aramark, a food and support-services
company. Faced with a competitive market for large-scale
conventions, the MECA board had concerns that a professional
operator may not give Omaha the priority they need to make the
center eventually profitable. |
