Dallas Stars poised to take $250M from struggling schools in new arena racket

The Dallas Stars are reportedly in line to receive a significant sum of money from struggling Plano Independent School District (PISD) to fund the construction of a new hockey arena. The district voted on Monday to allocate $250 million of its own funding towards the project, which is being built in the city of Plano. This comes on top of the city's allocation of $700 million in taxpayer funds towards the arena.

The arena project, which is touted as a partnership between public and private funds, has raised concerns over the use of taxpayer money. Critics argue that the Stars, who have a reported net worth of $5.5 billion, are only contributing a small portion of the total $950 million in funding. The PISD justifies the investment by claiming that the arena will be used for events like graduations and other community gatherings, but it remains unclear how this figure of $250 million was arrived at or why officials deem it a sound investment for a school district facing a budget deficit.

The deal has been criticized for the potential dishonesty involved, with some arguing that the benefits claimed for the school district should have been included in the original $700 million agreement with the city. City officials have also established a "Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone" (TIRZ) to reinvest property and sales tax within the new arena area, but critics point out that Plano will not see any direct financial gain from this deal.

The feasibility study estimates that new development will generate approximately $1.38 billion in new real property tax revenue and $245.6 million in sales tax revenue, but the city itself will retain nothing.

Voters in Plano will be asked to approve a new "venue tax" in November, which would fund the arena. The Stars would pay no portion of this tax, with the money being generated from car rentals, hotels, and event tickets. Essentially, Plano residents would be paying twice for the same arena, and fans would face an additional tax on tickets to support the facility they are already paying for. Critics argue that this is one of the worst examples of stadium financing deals in recent history.