| Place a Classified | Subscribe today | July 10, 2009 |
|
|
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
Q&A on Holt bond vote
From Mayor Roger Chase
Why doesn't the state of Idaho pay for the upgrades to Holt Arena? State funds cannot be used for athletic facilities in the state of Idaho. Idaho State University, Boise State University and the University of Idaho all have to find other ways to build and maintain athletic facilities. Why not increase ticket prices to pay for the renovation of Holt Arena?
Roughly 150,000 people used the Holt Arena last year. The bond payment for one year will be $1.7 million, which means with this number of users ticket prices would need to be raised by $12. This would decrease attendance, because you would have to pay $12 to $15 for the Spring Fair and $18 to $20 for high school football games. Ticket prices for each and every event in the Holt Arena would be more expensive. What happened to student fees?
Student fees were originally used to build Holt Arena, and that bond has since been retired. Student fees have continued since the retirement of the bond to be used for maintenance of the arena and will continue to be used for not only Holt Arena but all facilities on ISU's campus. In the early 1990s, nearly $3 million in student fees were used for upgrades to Holt Arena. If student fees were used to cover the cost of the $20 million bond issue, student fees would need to be increased $100 per semester for every student. Why do the cities of Chubbuck and Pocatello need to help pay for Holt Arena's renovation?
Holt Arena has become our community event center. When you look at the number of events held in Holt this last year, 65 of the 94 events were community events. When you consider the economic impact of these events on our community, millions of dollars are spent here because we have a facility like Holt Arena. Economically, Holt Arena is one of the biggest contributors towards our economic well being. People who come for the Dodge National rodeo or other events stay in our hotels, buy gas here, eat in our restaurants and shop in our stores. As we try to develop our arena as a regional retail center, Holt Arena is an important part of that concept. When we go out and recruit new businesses, Holt Arena is an asset in that we can say we have many major events that will make recruiting employees easier.
Why hasn't Idaho State University taken care of Holt Arena? ISU has taken care of Holt Arena and will continue to take care of this important facility. One important part of the bond will be the $4 million set aside for an endowment fund to maintain Holt Arena. In addition, a percentage of ticket sales will go to help retire the bond early and will go to the endowment fund to make sure ISU has adequate funds to maintain Holt Arena in the future.
Have other ways to pay for the renovations been considered? As we studied this issue over the past five years, we have considered many ways to pay for Holt Arena's upgrades. We first looked at alumni donations but discovered that alumni would rather fund new facilities. There are no ''naming'' opportunities left at Holt Arena, so this method would not work. ISU will raise some funds as part of the renovation effort that will go toward new turf, suites and booster enhancements, and press box improvements. ISU is also trying to raise $60 million in donations for additional new athletic facilities that will be associated with Holt Arena. These new facilities include a new basketball arena, a women's softball complex and training facilities.
We also considered an auditorium district and a recreation district to fund the Holt improvements. In both cases, property taxes would also have to be used. How much will the Holt bond election increase property taxes?
The property tax increase for a home with $100,000 in taxable value would be less than $7 a month. For example, if your home was valued at $120,000.00, you would get a $60,000 homeowners exemption and be taxed on $60,000 of value, which makes your property tax increase less that $5 per month. If you have $1 million in taxable value, your monthly increase would also get an additional 1/3 reduction in the bond tax. The amount homeowners would pay for the bond will differ for each person but on average it will be less than $7 per month for most homeowners (and sometimes much less). Article RatingReader CommentsSubmit a CommentCommenting RulesWe encourage your feedback and dialog. All comments are subject to deletion by our Web staff.
|
|
Comment
Rate
Report a Comment
