County Commissioner Tim Boyd is proposing an alternate plan for financing the proposed Southside stadium, saying it would take all liability off the taxpayers.
He said it also would remove the need for a Sports Authority to be involved.
Commissioner Boyd said in an email to City Chief Financial Officer Brent Goldberg, "Thanks for the answers provided in your previous email.
"After many hours of evaluating whether I would vote favorably towards the building and financing of a new Lookouts ball stadium, it boils down to me being comfortable with minimizing the risk of any debt service shortfalls that would fall upon Hamilton County taxpayers.
"With that said, I would like to propose an alternative ballpark stadium financing plan based upon the following facts;
"1. Many assumptions have been made to justify the new ball stadium. However, none of us have the ability to accurately forecast the future and guarantee what may or may not happen concerning the entire development of the US Pipe/Wheland (USP/W) site whether you are for or against the project.
"2. It is proposed by the City and County Mayors that the entire USP/W site be placed within a Tax Increment Financing zone (TIF) or more accurately a Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ).
"3. The first priority of all incremental property taxes created within the TIF zone and most of the collected sales tax generated by the stadium will go against paying off the bonds issued to construct the ball stadium with 100% of the educational portion of the taxes collected still going toward education.
"4. Developers, Lookouts owners, USP/W property owners, and our county and city mayors are confident the ball stadium is "the catalyst" to get things moving at the USP/W site for an initial $150,000,000 in development and an eventual $1 billion worth of development.
"5. Developers say they want to see the public involved in order to get financing for their proposed new construction projects.. The creation of the TIF zone by the city and county guarantees collected taxes within the zone go toward paying off the bonds. This is quite a very strong commitment by both local governments, and should be all of the commitment they need.
"Alternate Financing Proposed for Ball Stadium based upon the above outlined facts:
A. Have the developers and Lookouts owners build the stadium with conventional construction financing,
B. Have Gary Chazen lease the 10 acres designated for the stadium to the Lookouts for $1.00 per year for 30 years.
First priority of collected taxes within the TIF zone, both property and sales taxes, pay on the debt service as originally proposed plus have a guaranteed minimum payment of $1,000,000 per year from the Lookouts owners towards paying off the bonds.
C. When the stadium bonds are paid off on or before the end of the 30-year term of the bonds, the Lookouts owners and developers sell the stadium to the city and county for $1.00, and the stadium 10 acres are gifted to the city and county by whomever owns the property at the time the bonds are paid off.
D. A "Sports Authority" does not need to be established. Lookouts manage and maintain the stadium 100 percent. Portions of the 10 acres outside of the stadium are maintained by the city and County much like they maintain in park areas of the city and county. Revenues realized from ticket sales, corporate suite leases, the parking lot, concessions, events, secondary tenant, advertising, stadium sponsorship, and merchandise sales remain with the Lookouts.
"This arrangement between the city, county, developers, property owners, and Lookouts owners changes nothing about how the stadium is proposed to be paid for by both Mayors except removes all risk from the public concerning any debt service shortfalls during the 30-year bond period, helps to insure the Lookouts franchise remains in the stadium during the bond period, and places all risk on the developers and Lookouts owners to generate enough revenue to pay for the debt service on the bonds. This is not unlike any financial institution being asked to loan money on someones' car or house, or a developer for a new commercial building.
"This type of arrangement would greatly incentivize the developers, property owners and Lookouts owners to "...walk their talk..." without having any initial public funding involved or guaranteed beyond the TIF. This eliminates all discussion of whether the assumptions and finance numbers are legitimate because public funding is not guaranteed beyond the TIF.
"If I have misunderstood or misrepresented any information referenced within this email, please bring it to my attention. It is certainly not my intent to misinform the public or any individual.
"I trust everyone will seriously consider this arrangement, and we can get on with the construction of the new stadium and additional proposed new construction."