Still more Virginia Washington Commanders stadium bill news from the Washington Post yesterday, following on last weekend’s report that the $1 billion reported price tag actually would allow unlimited spending, and Monday’s followup that state Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw had promised to limit what a stadium authority could spend, but not in a way that would put any hard limits on actual spending. Now, Saslaw says, he plans to really truly impose a hard spending cap, sort of:
Virginia would kick in no more than $350 million in state tax revenue to build a potential home for the Washington Commanders under a new plan, the latest effort to rein in legislation that could have generated an endless funding stream for the National Football League team.
Huge if true!
Mark T. Bowles, a McGuireWoods lawyer and lobbyist representing the Commanders, confirmed that the team is on board with the limit, which would not apply to local tax revenue that might be devoted to the project.
Post reporter Laura Vozzella’s latest piece doesn’t go into much more detail, except to say that the $350 million cap would apply to the principal on the bonds, not to the amount of tax revenue that could be diverted to the stadium authority. This would seem to leave open the possibility of more money being funneled to the Commanders later — if there’s a surplus just sitting in a football stadium authority, where else is it going to go? — but without seeing actual revised legislation, it’s tough to say exactly what Saslaw has in mind.
Also, Saslaw’s counterpart as bill sponsor in the state house of delegates, Barry Knight, says he plans to push in conference committee talks for his own version of the stadium funding bill, which would only siphon off sales taxes, not personal income taxes in addition as the senate bill would. Knight explained to the Post:
Asked if the two were still far from a compromise, Knight held up his left hand and said, “I’m here, on what y’all know that my proposals are on the House bill.” Holding his right hand far off to the side, he added of Saslaw: “He’s over here.”
Okay, maybe “explained” is the wrong verb.
In any case, a $350 million cap would be a significant cut in subsidies from the $1 billion–plus being discussed previously, but it all depends on whether that’s a real cap or just a “we’ll only spend this much money until the next money we spend,” which will depend on what’s actually in the final bill, which who knows. More on this fast-changing story tomorrow? I sure hope not, but only Virginia state legislators can say for certain!
My ideal cap for this boondoggle: $0.00