Lincoln's convention center bill moves to floor

“It’s is a big victory for Lincoln today,” said Avery, who has made the measure his priority bill, guaranteeing debate fairly soon.

Lincoln would get an estimated $654,500 a year from state sales tax revenue on a convention center, arena, new hotel and the current Holiday Inn, under the measure that would turn back 70 percent of the state sales tax to Lincoln.

The bill is written so that sales tax from the Holiday Inn, but not the nearby Embassy Suites, could be used for the bonds. That’s because the Holiday Inn would get a lot of new business from the arena, Avery said. The preferred site for an arena is straight west of the downtown post office in the Haymarket.

This is the second year that Avery has tried to get senators to provide new tax incentives for a future convention center and arena in Lincoln. Last year, language relating to Lincoln was removed from a bill in response to criticism and a promised filibuster from Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers.

But Avery hopes this year’s bill will succeed. “I think we will get it passed. But I’m not leaving anything to chance. We will start counting votes next week,” Avery said Thursday afternoon.