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New Rays tax? Depends on how you define it

The no-new-tax pledge may be crucial in getting the issue passed. But it's debatable.

By AARON SHAROCKMAN and NICOLE HUTCHESON, Times Staff Writers
Published November 30, 2007

An artist's rendering shows the entrance at Second Avenue S.
	[MajorLeagueDowntown.com illustration]

ST. PETERSBURG - On one point, the Tampa Bay Rays couldn't more clear. The team's proposal to build a $450-million waterfront stadium calls for no new taxes.

The pledge will be critical toward winning the approval of St. Petersburg voters in time for a possible referendum next November.

But is it true?

"As my friend Bill Clinton might say, it depends on what the definition of 'it' is," St. Petersburg City Council member Bill Foster said Thursday, the day after the team formally unveiled its plans.

Put another way, the Rays statement is all about perspective - and context.

The Rays financing plan for a 34,000-seat stadium at the Al Lang Field site primarily comes from three sources: the team's future rent payments to the city, a state sales tax subsidy and the sale and redevelopment of Tropicana Field and the adjacent parking lots.

In at least two of the cases, and possibly all three, public resources and public money would be involved.

But new taxes? Technically, no.

The Rays said they haven't finalized all the details, but under the latest scenario, the largest chunk of the stadium budget, $250-million to $300-million, would come from the publicly owned Tropicana site.

Some would come from the outright sale of the land to a private developer.

The other portion would come as the result of the site's redevelopment. City and county property taxes from the Tropicana site would be redirected under a city program already in place into downtown capital projects - in this case, the new stadium.

The money, of course, is not the team's to spend. But without the Rays moving to the waterfront, there would be no money for the city or county or any other taxing authority to spend, either.

In that regard it's not a new tax, but rather the sale of a city asset, Foster and others said Thursday. The public return would be two new economic engines that could pump millions of new dollars into the local economy.

"You could make an argument that, yeah, it's taxpayers' money, but we're creating something that wasn't there before, and when the loans are paid off, you have a redeveloped site and a new stadium," said City Council Chairman Jamie Bennett.

Plus, other government agencies, including the Pinellas school system, would stand to directly benefit from the Tropicana redevelopment, said City Council member Jeff Danner.

"We won't collect ad valorem property taxes for the city, but the school board, PSTA and juvenile welfare and other agencies will collect their taxes," he said. "Those entities will benefit from extending the tax base on the 80-acre site where currently no one is getting any tax base."

State money squishy

The Rays say they will ask the state Legislature to provide $60-million spread out over 30 years in the form of a sales tax subsidy.

The revenue stream could translate into about $30-million in cash for construction costs if the team asked the city to issue bonds.

The sales tax and subsidy program themselves are hardly new, but giving that money to the Rays means it could not be spent somewhere else. Roads. Education. Social services.

"Things are tight, and they're going to be getting tighter," state Rep. Tom Anderson, R-Dunedin, said when he first heard of the proposal. "I would think it would be a pretty hard sell."

And even the Rays' contribution would fall, at least in part, on the back of taxpayers.

The Rays propose to increase their yearly rent payments to the city from about $1-million to about $10-million. The city would then issue government bonds, with the rent as the pledged revenue, to make up the team's contribution.

The Rays would do it that way rather than by making a lump sum payment to make best use of Major League Baseball's revenue-sharing rules.

Rays senior vice president Michael Kalt, the team's point person on stadium negotiations, said the Rays plans would help, not hurt, the local taxpayer.

"If you are a taxpayer in the city of St. Petersburg or Pinellas County and you pay $1 in taxes currently, your taxes aren't going to go to $1.05 because of this project and that dollar's going to go to the exact same thing the dollar's always been going to," he said.

The stakes are high, a St. Petersburg Times poll of 616 city voters last week found.

Fifty-seven percent of people surveyed would favor plans to build a new stadium if no city tax dollars were used. If St. Petersburg tax dollars were part of the equation, 69 percent said they would oppose the plan.

The question now becomes: What exactly do voters consider tax dollars?

"We're not looking to subsidize anything here," said Pinellas County Commissioner Ronnie Duncan. "But again, it's so early and there are so many unanswered questions, it's hard to make a decision."

Aaron Sharockman can be reached at asharockman@sptimes.com or (727) 892-2273. Times staff writer Marc Topkin contributed to this report.

FAST FACTS

To view the plans

After keeping quiet for more than a year, the Tampa Bay Rays are putting out plenty of information about their proposed stadium and downtown redevelopment project. The team created a Web site, www.majorleaguedowntown.com, that includes renderings of the project , a virtual tour of the stadium, a time line, a list of public meetings, a section on frequently asked questions and a link for e-mail updates. And for anyone who wants to see the renderings in person (or doesn't have access to the Web), they will be on display at the Tropicana Field rotunda today and Monday-Wednesday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. To receive stadium info by mail, call 727-342-5777.

[Last modified November 29, 2007, 23:33:08]