This Chronicle article reports on the brewing controversy over whether the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority — the quasi-governmental agency created to coordinate the construction of Houston’s Minute Maid Park, Reliant Stadium and Toyota Center — should be dissolved because its purpose has been achieved and it has nothing left to do.
Seems as if a few local legislators are questioning whether the $3 million annual overhead for the Sports Authority is really worth it when it appears that all the Authority is doing is writing checks on bonds issued to build the stadiums. Supporters of the Sports Authority are concerned that dissolving the Authority would impair the debt rating on the bonds. After spending a total of $1.036 billion to build all three stadiums, the Authority voted to sell another $37 million in bonds last summer to induce the investment rating agencies not to downgrade the bonds from investment grade to junk. The additional bond revenue was needed to make up for lagging hotel and car rental tax revenues that are dedicated to pay the bond debt.
The sports authority has about a $3 million operating budget, about half of which is dedicated to contractual obligations and professional fees that either the city or county would have to pay even if the authority were dissolved. However, the bonds are amortized over 30 years, so saving $1.5 million a year over that period is not chump change.
Curiously, the Sports Authority is attempting to justify its existence by proposing the construction of yet another sports venue.