Sandy makes Real pitch

The political soccer ball is now in Salt Lake County's court.

Sandy wants county leaders to contribute $76 million of county dollars, including debt service, for infrastructure costs around the Real Salt Lake soccer stadium — a number that doesn't sit well with some council members.

"I can see exactly why it's a great idea for Sandy," Councilman Mark Crockett told the Sandy mayor. "If I were in your shoes, Mayor (Tom) Dolan, I would be pushing this for all it's worth.

"Our job is not to think about what is best for a single local community but to make sure county-wide investments are proportionate to county-wide benefits," Crockett added. "I don't believe, while I think it might be great economic development for your town, I don't think it brings a lot of money from outside the area."

The county hotel-tax dollars would be in addition to $25 million in Redevelopment Agency funds that Sandy wants the city and the county to contribute. The funds would allow Sandy to collect "seed money" to spur a Gateway-esque development on the 136-acre plot the stadium will sit on.

Under the plan, the city would join with the county and Sandy's Redevelopment Agency in an interlocal agreement to bond for 30 years. Sandy and Real officials hope that if the county approves the plan on July 11, groundbreaking for the 42-acre project will still happen sometime before the end of the year.

Like past plans that have been proffered for funding the stadium, Sandy still wants $35 million in county hotel taxes. That number would balloon to $71 million over the life of the 30-year bond because of debt-service costs. On top of that, the county would contribute another $4.8 million in their part of the $25 million in Redevelopment Agency (RDA) dollars.

RDAs are tools that cities use to spur economic development. Various taxing entities, like school districts, forgo their share of property-tax dollars for a length of time so that money can be diverted into a redevelopment project.

Sandy would use community-development area (CDA) money, allowed under recent legislation on RDAs, to fund infrastructure costs for items like curbs and sewer lines around the stadium. The CDA money would involve only the city and county's cut of property taxes.

Others local leaders have been scrambling to come up with alternate funding plans for the stadium since Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon refused the team's initial proposal in May. He said interest payments were too high to approve the plan, as the cost would have skyrocketed to $87.5 million over the life of the loan.