Pinellas County Commissioners Hold Meeting in The Twilight Zone To Fund New Rays Stadium

It was the Twilight Zone at the Pinellas County Commission meeting held on Wednesday. After being delayed in November, the bonding of over $312 MILLION dollars of debt over 30 long years for a new Rays stadium was on the agenda again. 

Before the official business began, presentations were made about hurricane recovery efforts. Various county staff presented about property damage, status of debris pickup, unwieldy bureaucratic processes, status of major parks reopening such as Ft. DeSoto and programs said to be available to provide financial help for those impacted.

These presentations with Q & A took over an hour. They were eye opening to have an understanding of the impact the two hurricanes have had on people's lives and livelihoods in Pinellas County. 

The official business part of the meeting then began with General public comment. Many who spoke were those personally impacted by the hurricanes and stuck in the unwieldy bureaucratic processes hindering them from being able to recover. 

It was heart-wrenching and disturbing to listen to their situation knowing too many others in Pinellas were facing the same hardship. The commissioners did offer for County staff, who were at the meeting, to speak with those who spoke about their situation outside the meeting room. 

So the first hour and a half or more of the meeting was spent on the continuing hurricane recovery issue. 

The meeting then proceeded uneventful until the contentious Rays stadium funding agenda item.

Before BOCC Chair Commissioner Peters could finish identifying teh agenda item, there was an immediate motion and second. Public comment commenced and it was split about 50-50 who spoke in support and against the huge long term debt bonding. 

Supporters included the Chamber of Commerce suits and some stadium concession employees making emotional pleas. Those who opposed spoke to the flaws of a bad deal. That bad deal is now seen as worse because the hurricanes shined a bright light on the Rays financial vulnerability. 

The Twilight Zone began as the commissioners started discussing the handing of $335 Million of County long term debt dollars to the Rays for a new stadium. The commissioners appeared to have forgotten  what had just been said at the beginning of the meeting regarding the hurricanes and all those impacted. 

The timing could not have been worse. Approving hundreds of millions of dollars of public dollars for a stadium to enrich wealthy sports team owners while their constituents are struggling. It was as if the commissioners had stepped into another universe ignoring the reality of the two back to back hurricanes. 

Two commissioners who had previously opposed the funding, Chris Latvala and Dave Eggers, flipped from no to yes this go round. 

Latvala wants to see the Rays get a new owner. He stated that he "trusts" MLB commissioner Rob Manfred who told Latvala the Rays will remain in Pinellas. It was Manfred who yanked the All-Star game from Atlanta in 2021 after Georgia passed election integrity laws. Trust Manfred?? Hmmm.....

Eggers stated the County needed to honor the commitment they agreed to in July. That agreement includes a back out for the Rays but no back out for the County and allows the Rays to develop the County land even if they do not build a new stadium there. Who signs such flawed agreements?? Pinellas County.....

The hundreds of millions of debt dollars from the County and St Petersburg is not all the Rays will have access to. The Rays will also have access to over a Hundred Million Dollars of TIF (tax increment financing) funds available from the In Town Community Redevelopment Area (CRA) where the new stadium will be built. 

Side Note: The intent of CRA's are to provide funding to redevelop blighted areas. Under Florida law, the property tax revenue generated from increasing property values in the CRA in the CRA to be spent solely within the CRA. Those tax dollars do not go to the general funds of the city and/or county in which the CRA was created. 

Over time those CRA dollars can begin starving the general funds, especially during economic downturns or crisis and they become unfair burdens to other taxpayers.

Corruption is also a problem with CRA's in Florida:                      

Kelly: Community Redevelopment Agencies invite cronyism and favoritism

Lawmakers Amend CRA Phase Out, But Local Governments' Concerns Remain - "Critics say money that could fund affordable housing and infrastructure is going to ball parks or street festivals instead. Lawmakers say the agencies have run their course. Valrico Republican Representative Jake Raburn wants to prohibit new CRAs from forming. And prevent existing groups from starting new projects after October 2017."

Richard Corcoran: Why community redevelopment agencies have to go - "A mayor who received $84,529 from a side job paid for by taxpayers. A grand jury report stating that government officials were “spending large amounts of taxpayer dollars on what appeared to be pet projects of elected officials.” An inspector general’s report finding over $2 million in questionable expenditures and political cronyism involving a city commissioner. And finally, millions of taxpayer dollars spent and a new FBI investigation under way."

The In Town Community CRA was created by the city of St. Petersburg and Pinellas County in 1982 when downtown St. Petersburg was a ghost town with blight. It is almost 43 years later, downtown St. Petersburg is no longer a ghost town of blight and the CRA continues on. 

The Twilight Zone continued throughout the stadium funding discussion. It was as if they were handing out hundreds of millions of dollars to the Rays as a Christmas gift.  

No one discussed any analysis of the opportunity cost lost if the hundreds of millions of tax dollars were spent elsewhere. No one discussed the reality that redevelopment is naturally occurring in St. Petersburg and will continue - no subsidies needed.

With Latvala and Eggers flipping, they joined Commissioners Peters, Scott, and Flowers to pass the odious 30 year debt dollar Rays stadium funding....that will tie the hands of future county commission boards for decades.

Kudos to the two new commissioners Nowicki and Scherer who voted No. They were not recently elected to fund a new Rays stadium but  the nationwide mandate to be fair and prudent stewards of all our tax dollars. May they continue to have a spine.

And leave the Twilight Zone to TV reruns!