County wants to change the Sports Authority's mission
Harris County wants to look at the Sports Authority's mission to see if it should be changed:
Harris County Judge Robert Eckels and county commissioners have approved an in-house review of the Harris County-Houston sports authority amid questions about whether it's outlived its usefullness.
The review is the latest chapter in what has become an ongoing debate at the county level about whether the sports authority should be shut down now that all three professional sports stadiums have been completed. The authority's main purpose now is to service debt on bonds that were sold to finance the stadiums, but has virtually no other responsibilities. Last month, the authority's CEO, Oliver Luck, stepped-down to take a job with the new Houston soccer franchise. Previous efforts to shutter the authority have been unsuccessful, so now Eckels says a change in roles might be appropriate.
"I think it's important that we look at the authority and say, okay, we've got a convention bureau that markets, we individually market. Do we want them marketing too or do we think that maybe we should have them looking at facility improvements or maybe we have them looking at other operations within this community. They do work for the court and the city and so all we're saying today is let's let the court and the city tell them which direction they should take as they move forward and hire a new director."
The authority has a $3 million budget and does market the city's sports venues, but most of that work is done by each individual franchise, including the Astros and Rockets, which both own their facilities.
[snip]
Houston Mayor Bill White's communication director Frank Michel says the mayor is open to suggestions on how the sports authority should move forward, but doesn't want local taxpayers to suffer.
"He would be in favor of looking at any way to streamline the operations, avoid duplication and increase accountability and transparency. What he does not want to do is to have some kind of an arrangment that would shift the bonded debt onto city and county taxpayers of the sports authority."
Although the state legislature has said in the past that the city and county have the power to shut down the sports authority, it's not likely that will happen anytime soon. The sports authority could hire a new chief executive by next month.
It's important to remember that the Sports Authority has five employees (now that CEO Oliver Luck is gone) whose combined salaries equal $622,000, and whose main job is to pay off stadium debt.
Judge Eckels' quote makes it sound as if he wants to find a new job for the Sports Authority, which is disappointing. If the Judge and the Mayor really don't want to transfer the debt-paying duties to either the city or the county, then they should at least cut back the Authority's staff and budget to just what is needed to pay off the debt. There is still plenty of fat in that $3 million budget.
PREVIOUSLY: Shut down the Sports Authority and save $40 million, Billy Burge: THE best reason to shut down the Sports Authority!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/24/06 07:27 PM | Houston Politics | Print | Comments (3)
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