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Rays To Reveal Financing Plan For Stadium

Artist rendering by Tampa Bay Rays

The council is set to decide June 5 whether to authorize a referendum in November on a new downtown stadium at the site of Progress Energy Park

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By CARLOS MONCADA

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 15, 2008

Updated: 05/15/2008 12:03 am

ST. PETERSBURG - Eight months after announcing plans to build a $450 million downtown waterfront stadium, the Tampa Bay Rays are set to reveal details today on how they intend to pay for the project.

Rays representatives would not discuss any financial components for the proposed stadium, but it apparently would not rely on property taxes generated by the redevelopment of Tropicana Field, as initially proposed.

"I think it's high time we talked about numbers," St. Petersburg City Council Chairman James Bennett said Wednesday. "I think everyone in the community is waiting."

Bennett said the Rays, who plan to cover a third of the new stadium's cost, have moved away from using downtown property taxes, or tax increment financing, as part of the financing plan, judging from what he heard at a recent meeting he had with Rays Senior Vice President Michael Kalt.

The Rays are calling the financing plan preliminary, a starting point for discussions with both St. Petersburg and Pinellas County. They will present it during a 3 p.m. city council meeting at St. Petersburg City Hall.

"As we have maintained since proposing the new ballpark and redevelopment of Tropicana Field last October, the plan will not require any new taxes," Rays President Matt Silverman said in a statement. "In fact, the plan should create new public funds in excess of those requested for the ballpark - dollars which can be used to help fund city and county services as well as Pinellas schools."

Growing increasingly impatient, city council members last month asked the Rays to submit a financing plan by Friday. Council members will discuss the plan at a workshop May 22.

The council is set to decide June 5 whether to authorize a referendum in November on a new downtown stadium at the site of Progress Energy Park, home of Al Lang Field. The council already has given the go-ahead for the city to begin negotiations with two of three developers who offered bids to redevelop the 86-acre Tropicana site into a massive mixed-use project.

It's not clear what public money the Rays are seeking. But one funding source that's been floated is renewing a county 1-cent bed tax on hotel stays, which now helps pay the debt on Tropicana Field.

The bed tax expires Sept. 30, 2015, but could be extended and the money raised could be applied to pay debt on bonds issued for a new downtown ballpark.

"We wouldn't expect the city to be solely responsible for the public contribution," Kalt said. "We realize we need to engage the county on what they think is an appropriate level of participation for them. But we expect it to be a joint effort of us and the city and the county to get this done."

Some county commissioners already have said they would not support the Rays' proposal if it involves using future property tax revenue generated by the redevelopment of the Tropicana site.

"I think the message from the commission has been no new property taxes," county Commissioner Ken Welch said. "I think they have that message. My assumption is they will ask us to extend that 1-cent bed tax."

However, Bennett said the Rays also may have to kick in more than the $150 million they plan to contribute toward the project.

"If there's a lot of borrowing involved. I'm not sure the taxpayers are going to want that, either," Bennett said.

Reporter Carlos Moncada can be reached at cmoncada@tampatrib.com or (727) 451-2333.

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