April 14, 200521 yr Link Senate committee OKs tax break to help build new stadium By Jean-Paul Renaud and Linda Kleindienst Sun-Sentinel Posted April 13 2005, 7:49 PM EDT TALLAHASSEE -- The Florida Marlins scored a double on Wednesday: a key Senate committee approved a $60 million tax break to help build a new ballpark and the president of Major League Baseball made a personal appeal on the team's behalf. In a 6-2 vote, the Senate Commerce Committee agreed that Miami-Dade County should get a sales tax break to help finance the $420 million stadium planned near the Orange Bowl. "We believe this is an important part of the revitalization of South Florida," Miami-Dade County Manager George Burgess told the committee. "Miami-Dade County, the city of Miami and the Marlins worked together in a way I think the Florida Legislature has expected for years." In the past few weeks, county and city officials and their lobbyists, as well as those in baseball, have been courting votes throughout the Legislature. Supporters hope the Senate vote may reinvigorate the issue in the House, where it has been stagnant for nearly two weeks. Local officials claim the new stadium would generate up to $8 million in sales tax revenues for the state -- $2 million of which the county wants to keep over a 30-year period to help with construction costs. On Wednesday, they gave lawmakers an economic impact study that contends stadiums can be an impetus for redevelopment. "The most immediate and visible economic impacts from sports venues appears in the neighborhoods where new stadiums and arenas are developed," said Robert D. Cruz, a professor of economics at Barry University who authored the study. "Not all new stadiums or arenas have sparked urban redevelopment, but many, especially more recently, have had a clearly positive impact." Last week a Senate economist told the same committee that publicly financed sports facilities do not spur economic development. Cruz countered that "this issue is not as black and white as some critics might suggest." Until now, the bid for a new stadium for the two-time World Series Champions has received a tepid reception in the Senate. In a letter delivered to Senate President Tom Lee on Wednesday, Major League Baseball President Robert DuPuy said Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria has invested millions in the franchise but that it will take a baseball-only stadium to help make the team successful. "Since South Florida was granted a Major League Baseball team in 1992, the franchise has had significant success on the field and numerous disappointments off the field," DuPuy wrote. "Throughout this period, and under three different ownership and management teams, the single consistent reality for the economic viability of the franchise has been the need for a baseball-only, retractable roof facility. To date, these efforts have not been successful." DuPuy said H. Wayne Huizenga's offer to let the team stay at Dolphins Stadium when its lease expires after the 2010 season is not an acceptable long-term solution. The Marlins management has indicated it will petition to leave the state if the stadium deal falls through. "There are so many considerations to this decision," said Lee, R-Brandon, after reading the letter. "The buyers of the team knew, or certainly should have known, they were buying an asset that did not have an economically viable lease agreement to play baseball." Yet, Lee added, "I'm not saying 'no.' I'm just saying that's a tough question to lay at the feet of elected officials." Miami-Dade legislators pushing the stadium tax break are hoping that the bill's movement in the Senate will break a logjam in the House, where Finance and Tax Chairman Fred Brummer has kept the bill from being heard. Brummer, R-Apopka, says he hasn't been convinced that a stadium would economically benefit South Florida. "[brummer] was waiting for movement in the Senate, so this is a good sign," said Rep. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, R-Miami, who is sponsoring the House initiative. After meeting with Lopez-Cantera and Miami-Dade county leaders late Wednesday, Brummer said the Senate's vote changes nothing but promised to read the new study. "If they pass a bad bill, it doesn't mean we will," he said. "I want to see that it actually has positive economic impact. Just to get the whiff of the light of day, it's got to really be valid." Brummer faces strong pressure to allow the bill into his committee. Gov. Jeb Bush has said the issue deserves to be heard. And House Speaker Allan Bense promised in March the House would give the issue a "fair look-see." Jean-Paul Renaud can be reached at jprenaud@sun-sentinel.com or 850-224-6214. Linda Kleindienst can be reached at lkleindienst@sun-sentinel.com or 850-224-6214.
April 14, 200521 yr The stadium bill saw some movement in the Senate. This should keep it moving in the House.
April 14, 200521 yr Good $#!T :notworthy Next Step? Does it go to the whole Senate? It has passed in both house and senate sub-commities.
April 14, 200521 yr every sub-committee has been positive right? maybe the team have their story straight and we could get this done.
April 14, 200521 yr Other than the House Finance Committee, how many other Committees does it have to pass?
April 21, 200521 yr http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sport...on/11447570.htm Wayne screws us again! Posted on Thu, Apr. 21, 2005 IN MY OPINION The Marlins' toughest foe: Tallahassee LINDA ROBERTSON lrobertson@herald.com You would never know it by watching the robust Marlins, but they are again at the top of the endangered-species list in South Florida. Their plan to acquire money for a new stadium is ''on life support,'' Florida state Senate president Tom Lee said Wednesday. And we all know -- because we've all been warned countless times in the past seven years -- what will happen if the Marlins don't get a new stadium. They will have to move someplace where folks really love them and demonstrate that love by paying most if not all the cost of a new stadium. The promise the team has shown these pleasant spring nights belies its troubles in Tallahassee. The stadium bill is languishing at the committee level -- sort of the Double A of the Florida legislature. Next week, it could expire without even getting called up to the floor of the House or Senate. There might not be any great debate on the merits or drawbacks of devoting public sales tax money to a private enterprise. The funding proposal might simply be ignored to death. That would be a fitting fate for a concept opposed by taxpayers, who refuse to be bamboozled by the term ''sales tax rebate.'' The $2 million annual payments to pro franchises owned by multimillionaires who employ multimillionaires are subsidies for the rich and famous in a cash-strapped state that consistently shortchanges the poor and unknown. The Tampa Bay Lightning pockets its $2 million ''rebate'' this year even though the NHL season has been canceled. BOGUS ECONOMICS In South Florida, we ought to be skeptical after getting conned into raw deals for AmericanAirlines Arena (still waiting on that bayside park to be built where a gravel parking lot now sits) and Office Depot Center -- formerly National Car Rental Center (Broward has recouped only $364,000 on its $184 million investment). Yet the Miami-Dade delegation still pushes bogus ''economic impact'' studies. Other things are working against the Marlins: The franchise already received the subsidy when Wayne Huizenga was owner. The 2003 World Series title hurt the argument that the team can't be successful without its own retractable-roof ballpark. With the Orlando Magic and NASCAR piling on, legislators are feeling sports-facility fatigue. Also, it doesn't help that Miami-Dade politicians need to ask their reluctant colleagues from the ''other Florida'' for money to cover pressing needs, such as new schools. THE DEATH BLOW? Huizenga may have delivered the death blow when he told Lee he would not cast the homeless Marlins out of Dolphins Stadium when their lease ends in 2010. Now that he is planning to build a retail village there, he would consider more favorable terms for his tenant. But Huizenga hasn't offered any of these enticements to the Marlins, who have no reason to trust him. Owner Jeffrey Loria and president David Samson have done a brilliant job of not resorting to threats and negotiating a deal with the city of Miami and the county for a $420 million stadium, for which they'd contribute $192 million in rent and other payments. Could the whole thing fall apart without that final $60 million from the state, or will someone ante up? Las Vegas awaits the outcome.
April 21, 200521 yr http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sport...on/11447570.htm Wayne screws us again! Posted on Thu, Apr. 21, 2005 IN MY OPINION The Marlins' toughest foe: Tallahassee LINDA ROBERTSON lrobertson@herald.com You would never know it by watching the robust Marlins, but they are again at the top of the endangered-species list in South Florida. Their plan to acquire money for a new stadium is ''on life support,'' Florida state Senate president Tom Lee said Wednesday. And we all know -- because we've all been warned countless times in the past seven years -- what will happen if the Marlins don't get a new stadium. They will have to move someplace where folks really love them and demonstrate that love by paying most if not all the cost of a new stadium. The promise the team has shown these pleasant spring nights belies its troubles in Tallahassee. The stadium bill is languishing at the committee level -- sort of the Double A of the Florida legislature. Next week, it could expire without even getting called up to the floor of the House or Senate. There might not be any great debate on the merits or drawbacks of devoting public sales tax money to a private enterprise. The funding proposal might simply be ignored to death. That would be a fitting fate for a concept opposed by taxpayers, who refuse to be bamboozled by the term ''sales tax rebate.'' The $2 million annual payments to pro franchises owned by multimillionaires who employ multimillionaires are subsidies for the rich and famous in a cash-strapped state that consistently shortchanges the poor and unknown. The Tampa Bay Lightning pockets its $2 million ''rebate'' this year even though the NHL season has been canceled. BOGUS ECONOMICS In South Florida, we ought to be skeptical after getting conned into raw deals for AmericanAirlines Arena (still waiting on that bayside park to be built where a gravel parking lot now sits) and Office Depot Center -- formerly National Car Rental Center (Broward has recouped only $364,000 on its $184 million investment). Yet the Miami-Dade delegation still pushes bogus ''economic impact'' studies. Other things are working against the Marlins: The franchise already received the subsidy when Wayne Huizenga was owner. The 2003 World Series title hurt the argument that the team can't be successful without its own retractable-roof ballpark. With the Orlando Magic and NASCAR piling on, legislators are feeling sports-facility fatigue. Also, it doesn't help that Miami-Dade politicians need to ask their reluctant colleagues from the ''other Florida'' for money to cover pressing needs, such as new schools. THE DEATH BLOW? Huizenga may have delivered the death blow when he told Lee he would not cast the homeless Marlins out of Dolphins Stadium when their lease ends in 2010. Now that he is planning to build a retail village there, he would consider more favorable terms for his tenant. But Huizenga hasn't offered any of these enticements to the Marlins, who have no reason to trust him. Owner Jeffrey Loria and president David Samson have done a brilliant job of not resorting to threats and negotiating a deal with the city of Miami and the county for a $420 million stadium, for which they'd contribute $192 million in rent and other payments. Could the whole thing fall apart without that final $60 million from the state, or will someone ante up? Las Vegas awaits the outcome. 750054[/snapback] Tom Lee has never, ever, liked the Marlins (if I'm not mistaken, he was the one who ignorantly called them "terrorists"), so for him to try to negatively spin anything they're doing is not new. This bill will be proposed with a ton of rider amendments, and the fact that Arizona is threatening to 'steal' three or four Spring Training teams if Florida doesn't refurbish their stadiums will likely help our cause more than hurt us because it will get more statewide support than localized support, this thing has a long way to go, but the fact that it's struggling in committee is nothing to read into, committees can 'gate-keep' bills like this all the time, it's just a matter of amendments being attached to this bill to allow the wonderful pork-barrel system to get this thing to the floor.
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