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Marlins seeking a miracle to get subsidy from stat


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Marlins seeking a miracle to get subsidy from state

 

Miami Mayor Manny Diaz is personally pushing a bill in Tallahassee to help the Marlins build a stadium, but the measure appears lifeless in the state Senate.

 

BY LESLEY CLARK

 

[email protected]

 

TALLAHASSEE - Miami Mayor Manny Diaz prowled the halls of the Capitol on Monday, lobbying state senators for a $60 million sales-tax subsidy for a new ballpark for the Florida Marlins, even as prospects for state cash appeared increasingly remote.

 

The state House of Representatives signed off on the subsidy almost a week ago, but the measure, loaded with millions of dollars in tax breaks for other sports facilities, remains moribund in the Senate. Reviving the measure, Senate Majority Leader Alex Villalobos and Senate President Tom Lee said Monday, would require a nod from two-thirds of the chamber.

 

''And what do you think the odds would be we could get two-thirds for the Marlins when hundreds of other bills are hung up?'' Villalobos said. ``It's pretty much impossible.''

 

The Marlins might have had their best shot at victory this year -- the club lined up critical support from Miami-Dade County and the city of Miami before approaching the state -- but the Miami-Dade delegation's success at getting the measure out of the House last week may have doomed it in the Senate.

 

Because the Senate version of the Marlins legislation and the accompanying measures have not been heard by the Senate budget committee, it would take a two-thirds vote of the chamber to have the Marlins legislation considered by the entire chamber.

 

''I don't think it's very favorable,'' Lee said of the outlook for the proposal. ``If you don't have the votes, it's sort of an exercise in futility.''

 

To get the Marlins measure out of the House, Miami-Dade legislators added it to another bill that provides tax subsidies to other sports facilities, including a proposed NASCAR Hall of Fame. That move guaranteed that the bill had enough support from legislators across the state to pass out of the House, but the measure now carries a price tag that has an already-skeptical Senate balking.

 

''They added the convention centers and NASCAR and a partridge in a pear tree,'' Villalobos said. ``The president has been telling them for two weeks not to load it up.''

 

Diaz, though, who watched last week from the gallery as the House revived the measure, was undaunted. He said he planned to personally lobby Lee and wouldn't leave Tallahassee until the measure passed or until Friday, the last scheduled day of the 60-day legislative session.

 

''Don't write the obituary yet,'' Diaz told reporters at the Capitol. ``It's not over until it's over.''

 

Diaz, who drove to Tallahassee on Sunday with lobbyist Al Lorenzo and a staffer, said he worked on his State of the City address on the long drive and is still hoping he can include news of a Marlins deal in his address next week.

 

''I'm always the eternal optimist,'' Diaz said. ``I'm here until I see it through. It's the last week. Anything can happen.''

 

 

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It doesn't sound very promising at the moment, yet it is great to see Manny Diaz working so hard to make it happen. The Marlins have something going for them they haven't had in the past......strong City and County support.

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It appears that in order to get a deal done in the capitol the Marlins need A) to have their request added to another bill which is capable of being passed in the House (exclusive of the other sports/convention requests) ala what was done with the Magic, and B) get that bill approved by the appropriate Senate committee so that only 50% +1 vote is required.

 

Anything short of that appears doomed.

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who is blocking this from passing the Senate Committee?

761463[/snapback]

 

While there are people allied against the proposition of helping the Marlins secure a tax rebate to build a stadium at the Orange Bowl site, it isn't so much who is against it as it is that because the bill (which came from the House) is so loaded up with incentives for so many other entities, the Senate committee that would normally hear such a bill won't touch it.

 

Because the Bill won't be heard in committee, it will require a 2/3 majority to be passed on the floor of the Senate. If the bill were heard in committe only a 50% +1 majority would be required. With such a high threshold for approval required, it appears doomed.

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This is what I was referring to with the Magic...

 

Legislator tries late move for Magic aid

 

By Beth Kassab

Tallahassee Bureau

Posted May 3 2005

 

TALLAHASSEE -- Trying to avoid his proposal's certain death in the Senate, a Central Florida lawmaker Monday linked a tax subsidy for an Orlando Magic arena to an unrelated bill.

 

Rep. David Simmons, R-Longwood, successfully attached an amendment to a House bill that lays out how cities can enter the telecommunications business. The amendment would give Orlando exclusive access for the next five years to $60 million in sales-tax money to either build or renovate an arena for its National Basketball Association team.

 

Such a maneuver is common in the final days of the legislative session as lobbyists and lawmakers work to beat the clock.

 

Simmons will still have to find a way to get the Orlando provision attached to a Senate bill for it to pass.

 

Simmons said he wants to be sure that Miami-Dade County, which appears to be losing its fight for a new subsidy this year for a Florida Marlins baseball stadium, can't make a grab at the money Orlando has been eyeing.

 

The money would be disbursed over 30 years after Orlando shows that the Magic have committed to staying in town for the next 10 years and that the arena will bring in at least $2 million a year in sales taxes.

 

The plan to attach the Magic provision to other bills came as a mega-bill loaded with more than $100 million for sports and convention centers remained all but dead in the Senate.

 

Beth Kassab can be reached at [email protected] 850-222-5564.

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Not good.

 

Plan B?

- move out of state, or

- put the difference

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errrr........f*** tom lee and wayne hif***ingzinga that no good son of a bitch....f*** them both...if we loose the marlins cuz of these 2 a**holes i hope they go straight to hell....damn those sons o bitches....

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