Stadium-funding options limited?

(by Leigh Dethman desnews.com 3-21-06)

A back-room wink and a nod may have shattered the Salt Lake County Council's options in choosing how to finance a stadium for Real Salt Lake.

Councilman Randy Horiuchi said Tuesday that voters don't have the right to decide whether the county should use hotel-tax revenue to pay for a multimillion-dollar stadium, because that's not what the Utah Legislature wants. Twice now a chance to put stadium funding on the ballot has failed: The Legislature this year didn't pass an amendment giving voters that right and neither did the County Council on Tuesday.

Although newly passed hotel-tax legislation didn't require Salt Lake County to use its share of the proceeds for a soccer stadium, Horiuchi said the council had a legislative "understanding" to give Real Salt Lake officials the funding they need to build the Sandy soccer mecca. The Legislature wants the money to go to soccer, he said, and they don't want the voters to have a say in it.

"If we go in and try to torpedo this funding," Horiuchi said, "I think in the future our credibility on Capitol Hill will be sorely damaged — damaged to the point that if we ever had a legislative agenda on Capitol Hill, this will serve as a reminder you should never do business with Salt Lake County."

The county is already using a portion of hotel taxes to pay for an expansion of the Salt Palace and for a parking lot that Real Salt Lake wants to share with the busy South Towne Expo Center. But Horiuchi said the council better keep the Legislature's back-room directive on the soccer stadium in mind if it wants to keep collecting the taxes for years to come.

Real Salt Lake wants to enter a public/private partnership with the county in order to bring in $45 million in public funds to pay for land acquisition and development costs such as sewer lines, sidewalks and roads.

Not everyone on the council is keen on the partnership, including Councilman Mark Crockett, who gave team owner Dave Checketts a tongue-lashing Tuesday. The team owner was in town Tuesday to make a presentation to the council about the stadium and the team's future in the county.

Crockett said county taxpayers shouldn't be subsidizing a private business.

"Who wouldn't want a soccer stadium? Who wouldn't want a great team in town?" Crockett said. "I would also like a house in Spain and a Ferrari. But I could not ask countywide residents to use their money to pay for it. It's about whether or not it is the best use of countywide funds for use to subsidize a soccer stadium."

Crockett pitched the idea of asking voters to decide on using the hotel taxes for the stadium, but the council defeated that proposal, in a 5-2 vote, with Councilman Jim Bradley abstaining.

Councilwoman Jenny Wilson said putting the matter before voters now would be too little too late, because they should have had a chance to make a decision on funding more than a year ago. Stadium negotiations have been going on for too long to turn back now, she said.

Checketts said that Real Salt Lake needs to break ground on the $145 million project by August, so plans need to be hammered out fast.

Debate on the project lasted nearly two hours Tuesday as council members brought up several concerns about the stadium project: What if Checketts decided to up and move the team to another city in a few years? Rest assured, Checketts said, because he plans to raise $90 million in private dollars, which should alleviate some of the concerns.

"What do we do? We move the team with that kind of investment? No, we keep the team here," he said. But without a permanent home, Checketts said, he can't guarantee anything.

Councilman Joe Hatch was more worried about Checketts' choice of beverages to be sold at stadium concessions. "This idea of no beer is just not very good for me and for many of my constituents," Hatch said.

Checketts said he hasn't decided whether beer will be on tap.