Beaumont council approves venue-tax resolution, adds “downtown convention center” language; comptroller review next

The Beaumont City Council voted to approve a resolution authorizing staff to seek approval from the Texas Comptroller for a venue tax to finance a convention center facility and related infrastructure, and during the meeting amended the resolution to identify the project as the Beaumont downtown convention center.

The amendment was requested by council members who said the earlier language was too general after the council previously agreed to extend a contract with consultant Stonehenge with the understanding that the project would have voter approval. City staff said the next step is submission of the council-approved language to the Texas Comptroller, which must review the proposal and report whether it has any negative financial impact before the city may place a proposition on the ballot.

The venue tax would function as an additional 2 percentage points of hotel occupancy tax, increasing the city’s potential hotel tax from 15% to 17% if approved by voters. City staff estimated the city currently receives roughly $3.3 million to $3.5 million a year in hotel-occupancy-tax revenue and that the additional 2% venue tax could generate about $1 million to $1.2 million annually for the designated venue project. A prior contract extension with Stonehenge for $450,000 was explicitly tied by council to voter approval of the project, and some council members pressed staff for confidence that the ballot proposition would reflect that local understanding.

City Attorney Miss Lokey read the language submitted to the Comptroller: “authorizing the city of Beaumont, Texas to finance a convention center facility and related infrastructure to impose a new local hotel occupancy tax at the rate of 2% for the purpose of financing the venue project.” She told council that the Comptroller’s office suggested the specific phrasing because hotel-occupancy tax dollars can be spent only on narrowly defined venue projects.

Council members debated technical limits in how specific the ballot language can be. Councilman Crenshaw said he expected voters to be asked about a downtown convention center hotel, citing the city’s prior action to approve Stonehenge funding with the understanding there would be voter approval. Staff and bond counsel advised that naming a hotel on the ballot could limit what the venue tax dollars may be used for and that Comptroller review is required to finalize permissible wording.

The council approved the resolution with the amendment to identify the Beaumont downtown convention center in the record; staff will transmit the resolution and proposed language to the Texas Comptroller for review. The Comptroller’s decision will determine the final language and whether separate or additional ballot items are needed to align with earlier contract commitments.

What happens next: staff said the Comptroller’s office could ask for changes and that placing the proposition on a ballot would be a subsequent council decision. If approved by the Comptroller and placed before voters, the venue tax revenues would be legally restricted to the venue project identified in the Comptroller-approved language.