If you’re a close follower of Rhode Island state politics — we’ve gotta watch something now that Roseanne has been canceled, right? — you’ll recall House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello as the guy who keeps declaring Pawtucket Red Sox stadium plans dead because the people of Rhode Island hate it. Though he’s also the guy who kept holding hearings on a stadium proposal anyway, and now he’s the guy who decided that giving $38 million to a minor-league sports team is just peachy so long as the money is capped there:
Mattiello’s plan — its fine print is still being written — will follow the contours of ballpark legislation passed by the Senate earlier this year, he told reporters Tuesday, but remove state backing from more than $80 million in proposed borrowing.
“I think the most important thing that we can say about it is, once we set up the framework, that there is no state guarantee,” Mattiello said. “The state of Rhode Island taxpayers will not be responsible for any of the debt associated with that project.”
The new plan goes like this: The stadium would still cost $83 million to build, which would be paid back by a combination of the team, state, and city. But the state’s share would be limited to tax money from a tax increment financing district around the stadium — in other words, increased property taxes would be kicked back to pay for the stadium construction instead of going into the state’s coffers like it normally would.
This would indeed solve one of the big problems with TIFs — that sometimes they don’t actually generate any revenue and local governments are left holding the bag — but not the more fundamental problem, which is that they often just cannibalize money that the public would be getting anyway, if, say, a new stadium means that a bunch of development gets built there instead of across town.
Anyway, with the state limiting its exposure under Mattiello’s plan, any TIF-related shortfall would have to be covered by … who would it have to be covered by, exactly?
“If revenue comes up short, the Pawtucket Redevelopment Agency will have to figure out how to deal with it,” Mattiello said.
Oh, excellent, so if the state can’t find enough taxpayers to pay its stadium bills, then city taxpayers will have to pick up the slack. I’m so glad that Rhode Island’s elected officials are there to be watchdogs of the public interest, aren’t you?
I just do not understand the need to publically fund $100,000,000 + MLS soccer Stadiums in this Country. Why? Not enough people really care about the MLS to justify the expense. American Soccer will NEVER be on the level of the NFL, NBA, MLB, College football & basketball or even the NHL. I have heard for decades that “Soccer is the next big thing.” How big is it really? The US could not even beat Trinidad and Tobago to make the World Cup, and how much anger has it generated? Basically none after two days of coverage.
Mispost? This is an item about minor-league baseball.
He does have a point, however.
$83M? For a minor league ballpark? Are the cupholders made out of gold? or is it all luxury boxes?
sheesh.
Rich people must laugh every time politicians cave to their demands.
Or wince because when the pols do surrender they think they could have asked for even more?
But…. what if the Sox leave Rhode Island for…. um…. Jersey city?