CLEARWATER, Fla. — A week after crossing the high hurdle of city council approval, St. Pete Mayor Ken Welch spoke to Pinellas County Commissioners with the $6.5 billion redevelopment and Tampa Bay Rays stadium deal hanging in the balance ahead of one final vote.
“This is a lot of information, and they are contributing $312.5 million to this, so I think we had a good start on answering some of their questions,” Mayor Welch said.
Throughout this years-long process, Thursday’s county workshop was the first real opportunity for commissioners to publicly weigh in and scrutinize the terms of the agreements, which would require them to sign off on spending hundreds of millions of dollars generated from the Tourist Development Tax to help build the $1.3 billion state-of-the-art ballpark.
The money raised from a 6% county tax on hotel and rental rooms can only, narrowly be spent on projects that promote tourism, beach renourishment and building sports stadiums.
"I'm all for capitalism, I want to preface that, but it’s different when you inject public money from something,” Commissioner Chris Latvala, one of a few who raised questions about benefits county residents could receive from the project, said.
Supporters and city staff who presented the plans say it would generate hundreds of millions in tax revenue for the county and be an economic driver for the region, providing thousands of jobs and new uses for acres that are currently just surface-level parking lots.
While commissioners say they see benefits in redevelopment, they questioned the return on investment, how they are legally protected in case of a team sale, and if they have enough money on hand to handle critical beach renourishment needs.
"How vulnerable does that leave us with something that's not normal from a beach renourishment standpoint, I’m talking about storm generated or emergencies that come up,” questioned Commissioner Dave Eggers.
Ahead of a tentatively scheduled vote Tuesday, Eggers says there’s more they need answered.
“I understand the benefits to the project, I’ve heard them, I've gone through them. But we have a different responsibility to make sure that it's fair,” Eggers said. “I don't want to feel rushed on this deal. If I feel like this is being pushed- through on Tuesday, I’ll vote no, even if I might be in favor of it. Let's not rush this deal.”
And as Mayor Ken Welch hopes for a second and final green light soon, he says they are open and willing to answer any lingering questions in the days ahead.
“This is part of the process and we're in a good place," Welch said.