Council raises Civic Center concession minimum to $500,000; staff says facility limits revenue growth

The Amarillo City Council on Sept. 23 approved a new concession revenue contract for the Civic Center that raises the guaranteed annual minimum payment to the facility from $400,000 to $500,000.

City staff said the contract increases the guaranteed floor for concession revenue by $100,000 annually but does not itself create significant new revenue unless the Civic Center’s physical infrastructure — notably a commercial kitchen and expanded catering spaces — is upgraded.

“This particular contract is actually a revenue contract…we’re actually raising that minimum to 500, which gives us a guarantee of another $100,000 a year out of our concession sales,” said Rich Guyon, city staff, describing the new agreement. He added that the facility’s lack of a larger kitchen and catering infrastructure limits the city’s ability to expand concession operations and further reduce the hotel-occupancy-tax subsidy currently covering a portion of Civic Center operations.

According to staff comments during the meeting, the Civic Center’s total operating cost this fiscal year was about $5.6 million, and the budgeted subsidy from hotel occupancy tax was approximately $2.323 million. Staff projected the subsidy would decline in the current year as operations improve and efficiency measures take effect, possibly falling nearer to $2.1 million in updated actuals.

Council members said the city is examining “cost recovery” across revenue-generating services and targeting reductions in general-fund subsidies where possible. The mayor noted that hotel-occupancy tax revenues normally fill the Civic Center subsidy, and council discussed that significant additional concession revenue likely requires capital investment in kitchen and service areas.

The council approved the contract on a recorded motion; the item passed without further amendment.