reprinted from:

Car rental tax for Hawks stadium:
Lawmakers ask who will pay it
 

By Lucy Soto, Staff Writer
Copyright 1996 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Article date: January 16, 1996
 

Getting cash to help build a new Hawks basketball arena in downtown Atlanta could hinge on whether supporters can convince lawmakers that it's primarily out-of-town visitors who would pay a proposed 3 percent car rental tax to help fund the project.

A bill allowing city officials in Atlanta and College Park to collect the tax within city borders should be assigned to a House committee next week.

"We want objective, reliable numbers," said Sen. David Scott (D- Atlanta), the city's delegation chairman. "The industry will come and say one thing. The city will say another. It's our responsibility to give taxpayers all the information. If we can show the exportability factor, we'll be able to sell it."

Showing "exportability" is how many cities have gotten funding for projects such as sports arenas and convention centers without the political pain of imposing a tax hike on local residents.

City officials calculated that the proposed rental car surcharge would mean about 75 cents a day more for most rental cars. They also contend that the car rental agencies clustered near the airport in College Park are used mostly by business travelers and tourists.

The rental car industry argues that half the tax would be paid by metro Atlanta residents - a point that opponents such as Fulton County Commission Chairman Mitch Skandalakis hope will make arena supporters look for alternative financing.

City officials and Turner Broadcasting Co., which owns the Hawks, are negotiating the specifics of a deal to keep the team downtown.

The car rental tax would bring in about $50 million to pay for public improvements near the arena, including a large pedestrian walkway and plaza linking Five Points to the World Congress Center.

Turner could kick in up to $15 million more for those improvements. The rest of the $200 million needed for the arena would be financed with bonds issued by the Atlanta-Fulton County Recreation Authority and repaid from arena revenue.

But lawmakers are reluctant to support a tax hike during an election year, so the measure's fate could come down to old-fashioned vote trading. Sen. Sallie Newbill (D-Sandy Springs) suggests she might support the measure in return for help in winning legislative approval to incorporate Sandy Springs.

"My feeling is if this is what the city of Atlanta wants and they think they have to have it, I want Sandy Springs - city of," Newbill said.
 

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