LATEST PANTHERS ARENA PROPOSAL NOT QUITE ENOUGH

     Ft. Lauderdale's bid for a hockey arena is reportedly still
$20-40M "short of what's needed" to get the $165 project built,
according to today's MIAMI HERALD.  Broward County Finance Dir
Phil Allen says City Manager George Hanbury's proposal to
increase the tax on hotel rooms by 2% to raise money for the
arena is "no different from the numbers that didn't add up for
Sunrise or Dade County -- it just puts a rosier tint on them."
Allen says the only way Hanbury could raise the $100M from the
tax would be to guarantee that the city or county would pay back
bond underwriters with other tax dollars if there isn't enough
bed tax money to make the payments.  That means tax dollars or
other revenue "would have to make up the difference" (Karen
Rafinski, MIAMI HERALD, 10/24).