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$2.5 million arts bond likely
By Melinda
Bargreen, Seattle Times staff reporter Seattle's much-vaunted livability and its status as latte capital of the world may have an unexpectedly profitable spinoff for the region's arts: a proposed $2.5 million arts/heritage bond to help fund capital campaigns from the Opera House to the Bellevue Art Museum. All those summer tourists - some of them enticed by the arts community, with its plays, operas and concerts - have generated King County hotel/motel tax revenues that are about $3 million higher than expected. The revenue provides funds for sports facilities, cultural-heritage groups and the arts. Money for the bond would come from part of that hotel/motel tax: "The gift that keeps on giving," says Larry Phillips, a Metropolitan King County Council member who is backing the arts bond. The bond issue is expected to pass out of the council's budget committee tomorrow, with the full council voting on it within the month. If the council approves the arts bond, about $1.5 million would go toward what Phillips terms "major performing-arts capital projects," a list likely to include the Seattle Opera House/McCaw Hall project, Seattle Art Museum's Olympic Sculpture Garden and the Bellevue Art Museum. The remaining $1 million would go toward heritage projects such as the Maritime Heritage Museum and the Museum of History & Industry. "I'm very confident it will happen," Phillips says. "I think we have a very strong majority vote." The flow of dollars from hotel receipts to museums and opera houses is complicated, but it's one that Phillips calls "a godsend for our cultural community." First, $5.3 million is taken out of the annual hotel/motel revenues to retire the Kingdome debt. "We're paying for a stadium that doesn't exist," says Phillips, "but the debt still must be retired. And the hotel and business communities all recognize that the newer facilities will be an even bigger draw." Of any surplus dollars beyond the annual $5.3 million, the first 30 percent goes to retire the Kingdome debt early (it was originally estimated for retirement in 2020) by paying off the principal. The rest is designated for "cultural activities." Why doesn't this year's hotel/motel excess just go straight to grants to the arts community? The county does make such grants, Phillips explains, which is why not all the hotel/motel tax excess goes to the proposed bond. But the county can use some of the excess to borrow money now and pay it back over time. That allows the county to spend a larger amount now on capital projects. In this case, $250,000 of the excess will go to service the debt on the $2.5 million bond. Phillips' legislative aide, Gregg Hirakawa, explains the bond process: "We sell a bond on the open market, and bond holders write us a check for $2.5 million. We have to pay them the debt service, which is around $250,000, every year - but we get to use the $2.5 million right away for capital projects that would cost more later." Phillips says it's a "big advantage to build
facilities now while they are less expensive than they will be in the future, and future
generations will benefit. A bond allows you to do it now. This has been a tried and true
formula for King County, one that allows us to really support our arts programs - as we
did with more than $5.5 million for Benaroya Hall. That was money they really counted
on." |
