This post has been updated.
Looking to raise the bulk of $520 million to fund the long-awaited expansion of the Convention Center, San Diego city officials knew they’d have to get clever about finding funds.
So city leaders concocted a plan to raise the hotel room tax without asking voters to approve it.
READ MORE: Turns Out That Convention Center Tax May Really Be a Tax
Turns out, city officials weren’t as clever as they thought.
A recent appellate court ruling found the funding plan was unconstitutional because the tax increase wasn’t approved by voters.
On this week’s San Diego Explained, VOSD’s Scott Lewis and NBC7 review just where the plan went wrong and what’s next in the effort to fund the Convention Center’s revamp.
Correction: In the video, we misidentified Cory Briggs’ client. Mel Shapiro is represented by Craig Sherman. Briggs represents the other plaintiff in the case, San Diegans for Open Government. We regret the error.