Rental fees for New Braunfels Civic & Convention Center to increase

Rental rates for the New Braunfels Civic & Convention Center have not increased since 2014, and due to ever-increasing costs of operation, City Council is poised to raise fees to keep up with demand on the facility.

The gist

The New Braunfels City Council unanimously approved a plan April 8 from city staff to raise rental rates for all convention center rooms and rental types, as well as eliminate some multiday rental rate discounts, including:

• A rate increase of 25% to all room rates
• A 10% increase to the reservation fee on bookings three or more years out
• Elimination of progressive multiday discounts for three-, four- and five-day rentals

City staff estimate that operational expenses are currently 10 times the amount of revenue the facility brings in, and that these fee structure changes will amount to about $225,000 in additional revenue for the facility.

“These will help close that financing gap that we do have at the civic and convention center, and bring us into comparable rates with other centers akin to the New Braunfels Civic and Convention Center,” said Jeff Jewell, director of economic and community development for the city of New Braunfels.

What’s next?

The proposed changes would take effect for events booked three or more years out once the measure passes, Jewell said. The measure will go back before council at a forthcoming meeting.