Monday, July 15, 1996
Jerry Jones Offers $4 Million to Stop DART
in Suburb
By Associated Press
IRVING, Texas (AP) - Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is offering
more than $4 million to help fund an alternative if this suburban
city where Texas Stadium is located will leave the Dallas Area
Rapid Transit system.
Jones and other DART opponents say the city, also home to the
Cowboys' Valley Ranch headquarters, is spending too much tax
money on the transit system, which has been years behind schedule.
Supporters of DART say Jones wants Irving freed from the 1-cent
DART sales tax so he would have a chance to get sales tax help
to improve the stadium. Earlier proposals include roofing the
partial dome and increasing the number of seats.
Jones told an anti-DART group Sunday that he is willing to foot
the bill for alternative transportation.
"I can do it and I have committed to do it," Jones
told an audience at the Committee for Responsible Transportation
campaign headquarters in Irving.
Jones and his attorney, Rob Power, outlined a plan for funding
the alternative for about two years if residents vote to pull
out of DART in an Aug. 10 referendum. Early voting begins July
22.
But Jones will pay his share of an alternative transit system
only if the City Council agrees to fund its share of the system
without raising property taxes or cutting city staff members'
salaries, said Power.
"He (Jones) will make that donation to the city," the
attorney said.
Opponents of DART say the transportation system is wasteful and
that an alternative can be provided for one-fourth of the $28
million per year the city pays to participate in the program
through a 1-percent sales tax.
Power said once a DART debt is paid off, residents could vote
for a half-cent sales tax for other Irving projects. Supporters
of DART have accused Jones of wanting part of a new tax for stadium
renovations.
"No one in this city has promised Texas Stadium one thing,"
Jones said. "There's no way that Texas Stadium ... can get
one dime until you vote to do it. I just want you to know that
I know it."
All content copyright 1996, AP, The Abilene
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