From Deseret News archives:
Rocky's stadium offer increases to $12.5 million
The mayor's proposal, which will be considered this evening by the City Council, now calls for $12.5 million in city money. When the proposal was released Friday, it spelled out $8 million in funding, but the team has since noted a $2 million increase in the costs of adapting architecture and steel fabrication for the fairpark.
An additional $2.5 million makes up for conservative estimates in the original city plan, Anderson's economic adviser Alison McFarlane said.
Anderson has characterized his offer as a "second option" rather than an effort to preempt Sandy negotiations. He has said that he supports the Sandy site and just wants to keep the team in Utah. But in an e-mail to the council, he wrote that he sees the fairpark idea as "a far better deal for the state than the Sandy proposal."
The money for the fairpark option would come from a number of city funds and would be repaid by the future sale of surplus property, tax-increment funding and $1 million a year worth of promotion for the city, to be provided by the team over the next 50 years. The mayor has suggested that some of the money might come from a sales-tax bond.
The city is also looking for other sources of funding, including a possible donation by US Bank through the federal New Market Tax Credits program. The bank has used the program to donate to Salt Lake projects in the past, including most recently the Sorenson Unity Center on the city's west side.
Anderson has touted the fairpark site as a way of revitalizing the North Temple corridor and bringing regional and national visitors to the city. He also said the stadium would pay property taxes, estimated to bring in $330,000 yearly for the city. The fairpark is owned by the state, so facilities currently there do not pay property tax.
Under the deal, the team would divert $7.5 million it had planned to give for a sports complex in the city's northwest corner toward the stadium. Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon, in turning down a proposal that called for county hotel-tax revenue to help fund a Sandy stadium, said the county would give $7.5 million for the sports complex.
City Council members are largely supportive of the fairpark plan, although some have expressed questions about certain elements of it.
Councilman Dave Buhler, in an e-mail to the mayor and others, called the fairpark "the best location for the soccer stadium." But he said he wanted to see the county and state playing more of a funding role, because it would be a regional facility.
He wrote, "I doubt very much that I would support a sales-tax bond."
Councilman Carlton Christensen, whose district includes the fairpark, also said he wants to see the county and state kick in more money.
E-mail: dsmeath@desnews.com
