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The San Antonio Inner City Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) board voted to give San Antonio Animal Care Services $300,000 to study the feasibility for a new campus on Monday.
District 2 Councilmember Jalen McKee-Rodriguez sits on the Inner City TIRZ board, and the idea for a new ACS campus closer to the city’s East Side came from a council policy proposal he wrote with colleagues Phyllis Viagran and Marc Whyte earlier this year.
The Inner City TIRZ, like all other TIRZs, generates revenue each year based on how much property tax revenue has grown in a certain geographic area since the first, or base, year the TIRZ was created. All new property tax revenue above that base year is collected by the TIRZ to be used for projects that benefit its geographic footprint.
ACS Director Jonathan Gary said the study would look at possible locations for a secondary campus, how much it would cost to construct and staff, and what needs it would be able to fill in the future.
Because the funding for the feasibility study comes from the Inner City TIRZ, the study is only looking at locations for the possible campus within the bounds of the Inner City TIRZ.
McKee-Rodriguez said the current campus is too far away for many residents to access.
“If I go to a neighborhood association in District 2, I’ll ask, ‘hey, how many of you have ever been to the ACS campus?’” he said. “There will be no hands raised.”
The 15-acre ACS headquarters was built in 2007 and is located off the intersection of Highway 90 and Highway 151.
Gary said any new campus would be smaller than the ACS headquarters.
ACS opened up two new spay and neuter clinics this year, one each on the West Side and East Side.
