San Antonio is one of the fastest growing cities in the country. Growth offers the opportunity for economic prosperity in the form of business development, higher-paying jobs, home ownership and other rewards. Yet growth also poses certain challenges such as an increased demand for services, greater use of vital resources, and the need to provide more recreational opportunities for citizens to maintain a high quality of life.

Cities like San Antonio have been provided with valuable tools to promote prosperity. Through the use of a voter-approved sales tax, San Antonio can create economic development or “venue” funds to support comprehensive plans identified as community priorities. For example, in May 2000, voters approved a venue project to provide funds to support aquifer protection and parks expansion through the development of linear creekways. Last May, voters approved two separate venues to continue each of those endeavors.

Each venue is supported by an increase and an investment of 1/8 of a cent in the local sales tax, or one cent for every eight taxable dollars. Taxable merchandise includes items most residents buy every day such as clothing, fast food or electronics. It does not include non-taxable goods such as most groceries, medicine or health services. These projects also would be supported by visitors from outside of San Antonio who contribute to the local sales tax. The sales tax collected to support the Linear Creekways/Parks Development and Expansion venue will be $45 million. This additional sales tax would be collected until the required funds for each project have been collected.

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