Lane County eyes increase in hotel, car rental taxes to fund facility at events center anchored by Eugene Emeralds
Lane County officials may increase tourism-related taxes to help fund a multiuse facility at the Lane Events Center.
The county’s Board of Commissioners on Tuesday unanimously directed the county staff to prepare at least one ordinance increasing both hotel taxes (known as transient room taxes) and car rental taxes by 2 percentage points to help enhance tourism-related facilities at the county-owned events center.
That would generate an additional $4.25 million a year, according to a memo from staff.
The tax increase could help fill a funding gap by financing bonds to construct a multi-use facility that would serve as a new home for the Eugene Emeralds. The minor league team must find a new home by 2025 at the latest because of new Major League Baseball standards.
In addition to serving as a new home for the Emeralds, the facility would host community events, serve as an outdoor concert venue and accommodate baseball tournaments at multiple levels of play.
As the county and team have discussed the feasibility of building a “New Civic Stadium” at the events center, staffers have been looking for ways to fund the multimillion-dollar project using tourism-related revenue rather than local taxpayer dollars, County Administrator Steve Mokrohisky said.
The county also is working to identify as much upfront money as possible, he said.
And while an estimate presented Tuesday ranges from $60 million to $80 million for construction, the staff plans to work with a design-build firm to constrain the budget to available funding, he said.
“Our intent is to say, ‘Here is the budget we have available' and work with that design-build firm then to design the facility based on that budget,” Mokrohisky said.
The vote Tuesday was critical but still wasn’t the final “go or no go” moment for the board on the project, he added.
Commissioners said they support moving forward with this next step, with some highlighting they want to make sure the new facility could serve as an emergency shelter during a natural disaster.
Months of discussions about potential facility
County staff and consultants have been working with the Emeralds since the end of 2021 to see if it’s feasible to build the stadium at the events center.
MLB is requiring the Emeralds to find a new home by 2025, but the University of Oregon would prefer the team figure things out by 2024, General Manager Allan Benavides told county officials earlier this year. The Emeralds are currently playing home games at UO’s PK Park.
Officials most recently gave staff the green light to condense the contracting process for a possible multiuse facility, unanimously approving an exemption from the normal public contracting process to instead use a design-build method for the proposed facility.
Read more:Officials approve condensed contracting process for Emeralds' proposal at Lane Events Center
Staff said that process allows for addressing potential design confusion early and lets the county consider expertise and cost rather than just going with the lowest cost, as would normally happen during the procurement process.
Hillsboro is using a similar process to expand and revamp the stadium for the Hillsboro Hops, another minor league team in the same league as the Emeralds.
Both teams must meet new MLB facility standards after a move up to the league’s High-A class.
While Hillsboro is remodeling, the Emeralds are in the process of finding a new stadium. And because of the new standard and a longer season, the team, which has called Eugene home for decades, can no longer play at UO’s ballpark.
That means project costs here are estimated higher than the $40 million project in Hillsboro.
Project could cost between $60 and $80 million
Based on early analysis, the project could cost between $60 million and $80 million.
A consultant estimated a new stadium would cost $78.5 million for both hard and soft construction costs with building starting next year.
The county has identified $17.5 million in upfront funding – $10 million from the Emeralds and $7.5 million from the Oregon Legislature – and is working to find more as well as reallocating $600,000 in existing transient room tax funding.
That leaves a funding gap of $3.1 million annually if construction costs $60 million and a gap of $4.8 million annually if it costs $80 million, the staff memo reads.
Those numbers assume the county will get a 20-year bond with 6% interest to provide financing, said Christine Moody, the county’s finance director.
The county’s transient room tax is currently 8%. Based on an analysis by Travel Lane County, that’s lower than comparable markets, Moody said.
Increasing the tax to 10% would generate $3.6 million more a year, based on receipts during the fiscal year that ended in June.
The county’s car rental tax is currently 10%. Increasing it to 12% would generate $650,000 more a year, based on tax revenues from the most recent fiscal year.
Some 'bells and whistles' key for officials
Under the board order, the revenue from increased taxes could go to more than just the multiuse facility. They also could help with a general revamp of the Lane Events Center and other tourism-related facilities.
Officials agreed the events center as a whole needs investment.
Commissioner Pat Farr, who serves as board chair, remembered doing home shows for Jerry’s decades ago in the animal buildings and said they were old even back then.
The events center has also long been in the back of Commissioner Jay Bozievich’s mind as something the county has underinvested in, he said.
Bozievich said he would want to see the potential multiuse facility built to emergency standards so that it can add to the event center's ability to serve as a community gathering space.
“But for the Lane Events Center, where would the livestock and pets have gone during the Holiday Farm Fire?” he said. “Where would we have held those mass vaccination clinics?”
Bozievich added that when it comes to “bells and whistles,” he’s particularly interested in soundproofing and things that could address light pollution and other concerns that neighbors have raised.
Commissioner Laurie Trieger added she wants to make sure the facility would be constructed in a way that it's immediately ready for occupancy.
She encouraged people who are giving feedback on the project to be substantive and specific about what they like and don’t like so officials can figure out ways to address concerns.
What’s next?
Staff will bring back an ordinance for a first reading, potentially as soon as Sept. 13.
Commissioners would then hold a second reading and public hearing before voting on the ordinance. There’s the ability to hold further readings before a vote if officials think it’s necessary to make changes.
If the county is able to identify enough funding to make the project viable, staff could present options for awarding a design-build contract as early as October.
The project won’t hit its final “go or no go” moment until officials approve a financing plan, Mokrohisky said.
Learn more about the project
There’s more information about the project, including answers to frequently asked questions and an email and phone number to contact staff, at lanecounty.org/LEC_update.
Contact city government watchdog Megan Banta at mbanta@registerguard.com. Follow her on Twitter @MeganBanta_1.
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: increased tourism taxes could help fund facility at Lane Events Center
