Help the Marlins, then end handouts

 

CARL HIAASEN

 

 

The Florida Marlins would be wise not to further annoy the new state Senate president, Tom Lee, who has begun raising uncomfortable questions about the hefty tax breaks doled to pro sports franchises.

 

In their continuing (and often mishandled) quest for a new stadium, the Marlins are asking the Legislature for a $60 million subsidy, to be spread across the next 30 years.

 

It's the same dubious charity that other teams have received, but the Marlins management nearly blew it. First they waltzed off to Las Vegas to be ceremonially wooed by city leaders. Then they hinted that the ball club might flee Florida if lawmakers balked at the tax handout.

 

As an extortion attempt it was stunningly incompetent. Lee's reply was overheated but not misunderstood. He said that he doesn't ``negotiate with terrorists.''

 

Now the Senate president has trained his sights on Dolphins Stadium owner Wayne Huizenga. It was Huizenga who pioneered the $60 million tax grab that has become the state's standard gift to sports barons.

 

And it is he, ironically, who has made it difficult for the Marlins to claim their piece of the freebie pie.

 

Eleven years ago, when Huizenga owned the baseball team, he persuaded the Legislature to give him $60 million to ''retrofit'' the Dolphins football stadium for seasonal use by the Marlins.

 

The subsidy was a so-called rebate that allowed Huizenga to keep the first $2 million in state sales tax collected every year at the stadium, for the next 30 years.

 

At the time, budget analysts in the Department of Revenue questioned the $60 million figure, noting that Huizenga was only going to need $10 million for baseball-related modifications.

 

Huizenga fought for all the money and won. Today the entire $60 million is gone, and he has yet to explain where it all went. Nonetheless, he expects full compensation.

 

Therein lies one of the big hurdles facing the Marlins, who are now owned by Jeffrey Loria.

 

The original law granting sales-tax breaks to sports teams was written by Huizenga's lobbyists, who seemed to anticipate that their boss might someday unload the club. They shrewdly included language that seems to block the Marlins from getting a new stadium subsidy until Huizenga receives the last of his $60 million from the state.

 

That won't happen until 2023. Meanwhile, Huizenga told the team that it has to move out off his taxpayer-retrofitted stadium, effective 2010.

 

Now, put yourself in the position of Lee, the Brandon Republican who is beginning his first term as Senate president.

 

Gov. Jeb Bush has just handed you a proposed budget that is a political stink bomb. It contains an embarrassing $132 million tax cut for only the richest owners of stocks and bonds, and a pointless repeal of the tax on liquor-by-the-drink that will suck another $47 million from the state treasury.

 

All that, while hiking college tuition and drastically cutting programs for mentally disabled Floridians and low-income families with catastrophic medical bills.

 

So, if you're Tom Lee, the last thing you need in your life right now is another wealthy guy looking for a handout so that he can make himself even wealthier.

 

Worse, taxpayers have already been soaked once to give the Marlins a decent place to play ball. Now the team's been kicked out of the stadium and is back in Tallahassee asking -- no, demanding -- another $60 million.

 

You can't blame Lee for wondering how the state (and the Marlins) managed to get screwed over so neatly by Huizenga. How many baseball parks should taxpayers subsidize for the same team? Or for any team?

 

Lee has vowed not ''to pay twice for the same outcome,'' adding: ``A lot of people consider this corporate welfare, and it's going to be hard enough to pass out of the Florida Legislature.''

 

Corporate welfare it is, and how refreshing to hear a Republican politician actually use those words.

 

If the Marlins management has a shred of sense, it will knock off the Vegas charade, sit back quietly and let Lee kick over some rocks.

 

Last week the Senate leader openly wondered why Huizenga should continue to collect the $167,000 in monthly tax rebates, since the Marlins will be leaving his stadium. It's a sensible question.

 

Here's another: Exactly where did Huizenga spend the $60 million that was supposed to make the football facility suitable for baseball?

 

It can be argued that Loria and his team shouldn't be punished just because politicians got suckered into a bad deal -- a deal that six other sports franchises have avidly capitalized upon.

 

There might be a way out for both Lee and Miami baseball fans: The Marlins get their stadium subsidy but the law itself dies with the deal, under the senator's heel.

 

From then on, no more handouts of tax money to sports tycoons. Not a penny, not ever, for any reason.

 

Two million bucks a year is a mere drop in the budget bucket, but it would still pay a mountain of medical bills for many of those poor families who are about to get shut out in Tallahassee.

Great article. The part where it says that the marlins shouldn't be blamed for the state getting screwed over is so true. It's not the marlins fault that they had a terrible owner in Huizenga who has terribly jeaporadized their future.

That would suck for the Magic who are probably hoping to use that exact same Tax-Rebate for their new Arena. But then again, I've heard that the Magic may just renovate T.D Waterhouse Arena instead.

 

 

I think it should die, give the Marlins what they need and thats it. The Dolphins don't need a new stadium for another 15-20 years, the Heat have an arena for the next 30, the Panthers as well. The Bucs, Lightning and D-Rays all play in relatively new venues and I think so does the Jaguars. When the time comes to build new venues for these teams, the owners should find another way to do so and thats it.

Gov. Jeb Bush has just handed you a proposed budget that is a political stink bomb. It contains an embarrassing $132 million tax cut for only the richest owners of stocks and bonds, and a pointless repeal of the tax on liquor-by-the-drink that will suck another $47 million from the state treasury.

 

All that, while hiking college tuition and drastically cutting programs for mentally disabled Floridians and low-income families with catastrophic medical bills.

 

 

 

:notworthy

The point that seems more ignored than any other is that if there is no Marlins, there is no sales tax to collect. The sales tax only comes into play if the Marlins exist in Florida.

 

While I appreciate Hiaasen's support, the fact is good budget or bad, easy choices or hard, no dollars will be lost by approving this tax.

The point that seems more ignored than any other is that if there is no Marlins, there is no sales tax to collect. The sales tax only comes into play if the Marlins exist in Florida.

 

While I appreciate Hiaasen's support, the fact is good budget or bad, easy choices or hard, no dollars will be lost by approving this tax.

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That's what's getting overlooked the most. Without the team, no tickets are sold and the state doesn't get their sales tax. It's one thing or the other.