Rosenfeld Realty Advisors: SPRING TRAINING BASEBALL UPDATE

This is sort of a big one. The deal must be in place by May 3rd, which is when the current session of the Legislature ends for the year. The problems they are negotiating are also becoming clear. They want the $50 million dollars that was set aside for this and to be paid out over 37.5 years cut down to 25 years. That is what a typical bond issue time period is. The idea of local tax money flowing in alongside the state money has been discussed. This would be in the form of a hotel tax. Another idea would be to create a special taxing district that would generate “special” property taxes from the business in the area that would benefit from having the stadium there. Lake Worth, realizing that this probably represents the best growth opportunity for their city ever, had the John Price Park site added back into the list of possible sites, despite initial backlash from residents in the area. The mayor, Pam Triolo, was quoted in the article, saying “Our kids need this. There is no better place.” No city would benefit more from getting the stadium than Lake Worth. Gov. Scott says that solving this issue is a priority and saving the jobs it creates. Since they really don’t need additional money for this deal, just to rework what was already allocated, it should work. But a lot needs to be done and the clock is ticking very loudly now. May 3rd is right around the corner and this is an election year. Think about how the voters in Jupiter would feel if this deal doesn’t get done and they lose their spring training revenue? Same can be said for Port St. Lucie as well. I can promise you that they would not be voting for Scott and that is why this is a priority for him now. I really don’t care what the motivation is, as long as they get the deal done. I promise to follow up with this story as soon as there is another update. As always thanks for reading and have a great day.

Palm Beach County to seek more stadium help from lawmakers; could be ‘heavy lift’

http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/palm-beach-county-commissioners-want-state-lawmake/nd9rd/?icmp=pbp_internallink_invitationbox_apr2013_pbpstubtomypbp_launch