A couple of city council meetings ago I asked Laredo councilman Charlie San Miguel if he would get information from the city on the amount of revenue that is generated at the Laredo Energy Arena. As of today, he has not produced any numbers. Nor have I seen a request for those numbers posted on the city council agenda as he promised he would.
Now I am wondering, what is going on, is there something to hide? If not, why not produce those simple numbers so the citizens of Laredo can see just how much the LEA generates in city revenue.
We have been told over and over again that the city has to pay $150,000 in operating cost every year to run the arena. But no one, repeat no one, has ever shown us the amount of money generated for the city by the arena.
The city is paid the following by the arena:
Sales tax (all tickets, items sold, and food sold)
Rent (on EVERY event that takes place at the arena)
Portion of ticket sales (on EVERY ticket sold)
Liquor tax (on every drink sold)
Does that equate to $150,000? I don't know, but would like to know. The arena belongs to the citizens of Laredo, not city hall. We have the right to know, and the city must supply these numbers.
I am tired of the "white elephant" argument some want to use against the arena. It is not a white elephant and does produce revenue. If you want white elephants, look at some of the parks in Laredo that are never used, and take money from the budget for maintenance. And, not one park that I am aware of generates any revenue. They are quality of life issues, just like the arena.
No comments:
Post a Comment