After San Antonio City Council shot down Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones’ proposed pause on negotiations for a new Spurs arena, the mayor unveiled yet another potential hurdle for the project: that the financing should be put to yet another public vote.
After Thursday’s contentious meeting, Jones said she wants to get council backing to put the city’s funding for the arena on the May ballot so voters have have a direct say in whether they want the city kicking in $489 million of the cost of the $1.3 billion NBA facility.
If scheduled, that vote would follow a November election in which Bexar County voters will decide whether to increase the visitor’s tax to 2% to help fund Project Marvel, the $4 billion sports-and-entertainment district that would contain the arena.
“The City Council can put revenue bonds to a public vote,” Jones told reporters. “That is a way for the city voters to be able to weigh in formally on the city’s contribution. So, they will get to vote on the county’s contribution in November, and there will be an opportunity … for the people … to vote on the city’s contribution towards the arena.”
On the surface, Jones’ idea makes sense. After all, the city will need to issue a revenue bond to cover its portion of the NBA arena. The city plans to pay for its obligation through visitor and property taxes at Hemisfair, among other funding sources, but it would need to issue a bond to make the money immediately available so construction can get underway.
However, political experts point out the reality is likely more complicated: the money San Antonio pledged for the arena may not be the city’s alone.
To understand the dilemma, it’s first important to grasp that the Hemisfair Project Finance zone is a 3-mile area around the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center where visitor tax fees are collected and sent to state coffers. As it’s entitled to do, council voted earlier this year to instead reallocate that state money to Project Marvel.
Since a portion of the revenue in question technically belongs to the state and was more-or-less gifted back to the city, it’s unclear whether Jones and council could call a public vote on the matter, according to Jon Taylor, a University of Texas at San Antonio political scientist.
“Normally, the process for municipal bonds is that you end up with a situation where — if it’s already state money — you don’t vote on new state money,” Taylor said. “The Texas Legislature has already allocated that money. So, if we’re talking about bond money, that money has to come from the city.”
“It’s very complicated,” Taylor said, in what may be the understatement of the month.
Even if Jones’ proposal is deemed legal and she’s able to put the city’s financial contribution to the arena on the ballot, Taylor questioned what might happen if voters approve the county’s November tax increase but reject the city’s revenue bond in May.
“What are you going to do? Build [the arena] on the outskirts of Bexar County instead of San Antonio?” Taylor asked, rhetorically. “It does nothing to reinforce the idea of transparency, the idea of policy continuity between the city and the county, and for that matter, even with the Spurs, who are willing to pony up a half billion dollars.”
Indeed, local political consultant Bert Santibañez, who worked on Jones’ campaign, said the mayor’s latest political maneuvering appears to be a last ditch attempt to delay Project Marvel, although he couldn’t say for sure what her motivations might be.
“First she didn’t want to approve the term sheet, now she wants a public vote [on the funding],” Santibañez said. “It just seems like more obstruction. If she doesn’t want [Project Marvel], she should just come out and say it.”
Interestingly, when Jones talked to reporters Thursday about the potential revenue bond vote, she declined to say whether she had discussed the idea with San Antonio City Attorney Andy Segovia or City Manager Erik Walsh.
“I’m not going to go into those discussions at this time,” Jones said.
In other words, there may be a lot of legal wrangling before Jones and council are able to put the Spurs arena on the ballot — if they’re able to do so at all.
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This article appears in Aug 21 – Sep 2, 2025.
