January 01, 2008
Marlins funding hole: It's back!
So remember that new funding plan for a Florida Marlins stadium that wouldn't require state money (though plenty of city and county money), eliminating the $30 million funding hole that had kept the project on the drawing boards for half a decade? Turns out that wasn't exactly true:
[Miami-Dade County] Commission Chairman Bruno A. Barreiro is asking the state for "a sales tax rebate or similar benefit related to the construction of a publicly-owned stadium for a Major League Baseball franchise in Miami-Dade County," the agenda memo says.
That's the same sales tax rebate that the state of Florida has refused to give a Marlins project in the past - in part because it already gave one to a previous Marlins owner, who absconded with it. The budget hole remains, in other words, and the state legislature would still be needed to fill it - meaning the only real difference in the new plan is that the city and county would be putting in $87 million more than in the old deal, and the Marlins owners $55 million less.
Miami Today editor Michael Lewis (no, not that one) provides some additional detail on why the county commission put off a stadium vote last month: Apparently the deal with the Marlins includes a $10 million penalty for the county if it votes for a stadium and then can't work out a lease deal with the team. Writes Lewis:
Never put yourself in a $10 million hole before you nail down an entire deal, because that gives the other side leverage to back you into corner after corner, step after step of the way. ... Commissioners must not be hurried because the Marlins say they're running out of time before their lease at Dolphin Stadium runs out in 2011. That's a great negotiating ploy for them - sign now and decide details later. It can, however, also be a great negotiating tool for the county if it doesn't vote now, encouraging the Marlins to take what we offer. The county loses all leverage the minute it votes to proceed.
Lewis also identifies other potential pitfalls for taxpayers in the deal, including that the initial public subsidy estimates didn't include the $28 million in free land the city would be kicking in, and that the Marlins' commitment to pay cost overruns would be capped at a laughably low $20 million. "After the first $20 million, dear reader, it's on your back," writes Lewis. With details like this, no wonder Marlins execs wanted to push it through in a week, before anyone read the fine print.
