The Hillsborough County Commission approved a nonbinding MOU with the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday, and Tampa City Council followed suit today. These votes are the next step toward the start of stadium construction, but they are by no means the final step.
The County has committed to providing $796 million, relying on bonds that will be repaid from two sources: the county’s Tourism Development Tax (levied on overnight hotel and vacation rental stays) and the county’s Community Investment Tax, a half cent sales tax originally passed to fund the construction of Raymond James Stadium alongside a range of community capital projects.
The commissioners approved this MOU by a 5-2 vote. The two no votes were from Josh Wostal and Donna Cameron-Cepeda, both Republicans. Wostal has been a foe of this deal from the start. He is consistently opposed to local spending on anything he considers non-essential, which includes affordable housing, arts and culture, and, in this instance, a baseball stadium. Cameron-Cepeda has been less vocal on this (and other) issues; it wasn’t clear she would be voting against the project.
The city of Tampa will be contributing just under $200 million, also issuing bonds based on anticipated tax revenues. In this case, the revenues would come from the city share of the CIT, and also from property taxes generated by the Drew Park CRA (City Council also functions as the CRA board). It might seem that the smaller contribution means the city has less skin in the game, but the county’s budget overall is some ten times larger than the city budget. Proportionally, both local governments are making major contributions.
The City Council vote was 4-3, with councilmembers Charlie Miranda, Guido Maniscalco and Lynn Hurtak voting no. Miranda appeared to be a no vote from earlier discussions, although his rationale was never clear. Hurtak had posed challenging questions in the earlier Council workshop, but it was not clear that she would vote no. Councilman Bill Carlson had previously seemed to be an opponent of the deal, but he ultimately voted yes.
Both bodies allowed for public comment prior to their votes, and there were speakers both for and against the MOU. The Rays benefitted from endorsements from local police and fire fighters unions, and have also agreed to locate a new police station in the development (although it’s not clear whether the funds for that are part of the current public sector commitment or would require additional spending). Rays fans were also among those testifying in favor of the plan, including DRaysBay’s own Elijah Flewellen.
Critics included an array of residents concerned about subsidies for a private business, about the risks taken on by local governments, and about remaining unanswered questions about the stadium budget and the capacity of the ownership group to meet their financial obligations.
The state legislature must act as well: the project relies on their $150 million contribution toward relocating Hillsborough College facilities. The State Senate had been reluctant to approve that budget item before seeing that the local governments were moving ahead with the larger project. These local votes are likely to spur state legislative approval of those funds.
As we’ve said repeatedly: a nonbinding MOU is, well, not binding. We are many agreements, votes, and lawyers’ billable hours away from “turning dirt,” as developers like to say. These votes, however, mean that the process will move forward.
