Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson is floating a plan to spend hotel-room tax money on a downtown theater district as well as a soccer stadium in Sandy. Anderson invited Real Salt Lake team owner Dave Checketts, Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon and a handful of other county leaders to his office Thursday to figure out what the team can do to win the county's approval for funding.
The pitch was similar to one Anderson fought a month ago, with one key difference: Salt Lake City receives a bigger chunk of the money. That leaves Salt Lake County leaders asking how they'll pay for the balance of stadium costs.
Anderson's plan outlines "suggested terms" for Salt Lake County's participation, which include $40 million in hotel-room tax dollars, and $12 million from Sandy redevelopment-agency funds, according to documents obtained by the Deseret Morning News.
If that plan doesn't meet the county's checklist, Real is working on another contingency plan that would avoid using county money altogether, Sandy Mayor Tom Dolan said.
"It's being looked at seriously by Dave Checketts and his group," Dolan said.
But the redevelopment agency (RDA) dollars Sandy would front, which are based on the assessed property value of the stadium project, is the only money Sandy would contribute. That amount in previous proposals has been $10 million. Those funds would come through a community-development area (CDA), which is a form of new RDA legislation that allows the city's and county's cut of property taxes to flow toward project infrastructure costs.
The rest of the roughly $180 million for the stadium and an adjoining hotel and broadcast studio would be funded privately through Real's investors.
Anderson's plan asks the county to funnel $10 million more hotel-room taxes than the last plan rejected by the County Council — a total of $40 million.
"Rocky's proposal is not going to go anywhere," County Councilman Joe Hatch said. "No, that's too expensive."
The plan resembles the Sandy proposal that county officials denied a month ago. That July proposal would have shifted $30 million in hotel-tax dollars to Sandy to cover infrastructure costs for the soccer stadium, and the city would have pitched in $10 million in CDA money.
If approved, the proposal would also have provided $45 million for projects in downtown Salt Lake City and $15 million for other countywide projects. Anderson publicly blasted that plan to the County Council shortly before county leaders voted it down.
Dolan said he is surprised by Anderson's new support for the south-valley stadium and the plan, which rehashes Sandy's original.
"It's OK with me," he said. "It's basically the same thing we proposed last month."
"It seems his position was, everything has to be in Salt Lake City or he won't support it. That was certainly his presentation to the County Council. He accused us of making back-room deals that I'm still not pleased about," Dolan said of Anderson's public accusation. "He shot himself in the foot. He ruined the arts district and soccer complex for Salt Lake City. And yes, do quote me."
Anderson and his spokesman, Patrick Thronson, did not respond to e-mail and phone inquiries Thursday. Both have refused to comment to the Deseret Morning News for the last 50 days.
Anderson's new plan would divert the rest of the hotel-room dollars not funding soccer — nearly $78 million — for downtown projects, including a major performing-arts center, as well as tourism and convention promotion. And if Real stays in town, Salt Lake City would still collect the $7.5 million for a soccer complex on the city's northwest side.
However, if the team folds, Real would be required to pay the county $10 million under Anderson's proposal. In addition, the county would own whatever is purchased or constructed with public funds.
But time is running short, as Checketts' self-imposed deadline to finalize a stadium site or sell the team is Saturday.
Corroon said there is still a lot of work to do before then.
"Honestly, like all deals, there is a lot of details that need to be worked out," he said. "We can come up with some principles in a few days, but still, there has to be a lot of due diligence to finally say ultimately 'yes' or 'no.' "
"I have to say, it's still a 50-50 chance it will happen," Corroon said.
Every funding plan presented to date has included some hotel-tax dollars. The county promised the Legislature the hotel-room tax dollars would be used only for a soccer stadium, unless state leaders say it's OK to use the money elsewhere.
But those funds might not be available anymore, as Republican legislative leaders might redirect hotel-tax dollars to build 30 miles of commuter-rail lines in Salt Lake County.
Even so, local leaders are pressing on. County Council Chairman Cort Ashton also floated a funding plan in recent weeks but couldn't muster enough support from Corroon and members of the County Council.
"But maybe Rocky can," Ashton said. "I can't do anything, and I'm not sure Mayor Anderson can either, without Mayor Corroon. Unless the mayor is on board, we're all just wasting our time."
All this talk seems like deja vu to Corroon. He said the team basically wants the county to follow a "financial letter of intent" of sorts, guaranteeing the county would follow through with public funds if Real meets Corroon's strict conditions.
"This is what we've been doing for a year," Corroon said, because the past two public funding plans used the same idea.
But Hatch said Corroon is the problem, as he has consistently turned down funding proposals without saying what he really wants.
"He's gotta put his money where his mouth is and say exactly, 'This is what we're willing to accept,' " Hatch said. "He wants to have his cake and eat it, too. He wants to have all this political largesse of having killed this deal, but he wants none of the political responsibility of having killed this deal."
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