Steve Massengale Talks Coliseum, Police Substations, and Tax Rate

Friday on KFYO Mornings with Dave King and Matt Martin Lubbock City Councilman Steve Massengale joined Dave and Matt to talk about Thursday night's city council meeting which included topics like the future of the Texas Tech coliseum auditorium, the possibility of a privately owned dirt arena, police substations, the cities budget, the tax rate, and more.

The discussion started with talk about the coliseum auditorium, which was recently voted on to turn the property back over to Texas Tech. Massengale stated that they have discussed with certain Texas Tech officials how a transfer would go, and that last night the city council approved a resolution for the City Manager to negotiate with Tech on parking, utilities, leases, and more. "We do fully anticipate to convey that property on October 1st," Massengale said. The coliseum auditorium still has contracts to run events through September, as well as an agreement with the ABC rodeo to have an event in April of 2019.

The councilman was also asked about the possibility of a future dirt arena, perhaps one that is privately owned. Massengale explained that they have looked at possible options, but that, "Right now the city is not involved in that effort." He seemed to believe that this does not need to be a city project, and that if one was constructed, it would get plenty of business on its own.

Massengale also spoke on the ongoing project for police substations. Last night the council approved a contract with MWM Architects to begin designing the 3 police substations, a project that will cost 1.37 million dollars of the already existing budget. The design that they create will be used for all 3 police substations. The city already has the location for the east police substation at east 19th and MLK blvd. "We hope very soon that we can announce where the south and north substations will be," the councilman said.

Finally the councilman was asked about the budget that the city council is planning and if they plan to lower the tax rate as had been previously mentioned by another member of the council. Massengale said, "I don't have any indication that when we get through budget cycle that we would be able to keep the effective tax rate." He goes on to explain that he will be more focused on other issues in the budget, but that it is still possible.

Watch the full interview with Steve Massengale in the video above.

KFYO Mornings with Dave King & Matt Martin airs weekday mornings live, from 6:00 AM to 8:30 AM on News/Talk 95.1 FM and 790 AM KFYO, online at KFYO.com, & on the free KFYO app.