Hippo in the crossfire

Hutto mayor, councilman at odds over plan to use EDC tax money to build giant hippo

By JEFF CASPERSEN/Leader Staff

What's 20 feet tall, 40 feet long, 15 feet wide and stirring a major ruckus in Hutto these days? Any ideas?

Think mascots.

A community effort exists here to construct a gargantuan fiberglass hippo on Hutto High School property. If approved, the hippo would stand on line with the football stadium close to Highway 79. Facing west, it would stare down traffic entering town from Round Rock and the Interstate 35 corridor.

And although it may still be a mere twinkle in the city's eye, the future architectural marvel, which would qualify for a Guiness Book of World Records distinction as the world's largest hippo statue, is already creating a stir among city officials.

Hoping to cash in on Hutto's identity -- the city's high school mascot is the hippo -- via promotion, the city's Economic Development Corporation approving providing seed money, $19,000 this year and the same sum next year, to the project. The EDC, which derives its money from sales tax revenue, has met stiff opposition.

"We don't need to devote taxpayer money earmarked for economic development to a giant fiberglass hippo," said Hutto City Council member Jeff Phillips, who doesn't believe the EDC's contribution is a legal economic development expenditure.

Phillips says he's extensively researched the legality of using EDC funds for such a project. His findings are potentially damaging to the prospect of banking EDC cash.

Hutto's EDC, a 4A taxing authority, is limited in the projects it may pursue. In luring business and increasing economic development to Hutto, the EDC may only support industrial, manufacturing and distributing development projects. While a 4A corporation can pursue a 4B type of project, such as a tourism venture, city council approval, a public hearing and voter election is required. Corporations with the 4B distinction, which possess a much broader scope of power, are allowed to pursue the same projects as a 4A authority plus retail, restaurant and tourism ventures.

Hutto Mayor Mike Fowler, one of the hippo project's biggest supporters, contends the hippo qualifies as an advertising and promotion expenditure, making it eligible for EDC funding.

According to Phillips, the 1979 Economic Development Corporation Act mandates that a 4A corporation can spend up to 10 percent of its yearly revenue on promotional activity. With the upcoming fiscal year EDC revenues projected at $60,000, any promotion contribution would be limited to, at most, $6,000, far short of the intended $19,000 yearly donation.

"In the past two years, the corporation has spent almost the entire 10 percent on marketing," Phillips noted. "Allocating these funds to this type of project, if it were possible, would leave no money to promote and market Hutto through other ventures."

But Fowler, emphasizing that the hippo would serve not only as a community landmark but as a major promotional tool for the city, said he has legal support.

"Ted Hejil (the attorney who wrote Hutto's EDC charter) said this was a legal function," Fowler claimed. "The whole purpose is to advertise and promote Hutto. The EDC clearly allows for advertising and promotion, which is allowable under a 4A."

Placing the hippo on school property is another major concern for Phillips. Fowler addressed the Hutto Independent School District board meeting last week, calling for support and endorsement of the project. The board, however, tabled any action on the item, opting to first investigate any liability accepting the hippo as a donation might impose on the district.

"The theory that the hippo could become property of the school is false," said Phillips, citing another Development Corporation Act clause that only allows donations or sales be made to higher education facilities, not independent school districts.

EDC President Ron Whitfield defended his group's controversial decision, expecting full well the backlash hippo supporters would face.

"We've started a real fireball," Whitfield said. "We're going to catch a lot of flack. You have to look at it like this -- if we bring 10,000 people to Hutto every year and they buy a coke or they buy a hot dog, I think out of the hippo we can make some money. Someone in town can sell hippo paraphernalia, hippo memorabilia."

Fowler, who intended to raise the remaining funds via private contributions and fund-raisers, said with the possibility of receiving no EDC funds, the project may have to rely solely on private money.

Based on an estimate from a Texas fiberglass company, the hippo itself will cost an estimated $74,800. That figure does not include the cost of landscaping and lighting.

In 1992, the Hutto Chamber of Commerce purchased and installed a seven-ton concrete hippo named Henrietta in downtown Hutto.

"Drive by on any weekend and you'll see kids and adults surrounding the hippo, sitting on the hippo, taking pictures with the hippo," said Hutto resident Rose McMillan in an open letter to the school board. "They hippo defines and binds community spirit; the hippo inspires collaboration and teamwork, loyalty and common purpose. Hutto is lucky to have an uncommon symbol that can bring various groups of people together. We need this community unity, now more than ever."

If Henrietta is to get a new boyfriend, it'll take a massive community effort, something Mayor Fowler believes would be worthwhile.

"This would be something highly beneficial and could serve as a landmark for the community," he said. "We're very proud of the hippo. We're identified with the hippo across the state and even out of the state.

"People know the hippo."

Contact Jeff Caspersen at 255-5827 or by e-mail at jeff@rrleader.com.