A bill to help fund a new Bucs Stadium with a 4% hotel tax
has attracted powerful opponents that have kept it from reaching
the floor of the FL Senate. Chepak & Metz of the TAMPA TRIBUNE
write that even the bill's sponsor, state Rep. Jim Davis,
acknowledges it would harm Hillsborough County's tourism -- but
since Friday is the deadline for this legislative session, it is
too late to come up with other options. Davis: "The hotel/motel
tax seems extremely difficult, and I don't have another option at
this time." Bucs supporters will likely try to amend the tax
into another bill called a "must pass" -- one the legislature
cannot adjourn without approving (TAMPA TRIBUNE, 4/29).
AHOY OHIO? Meanwhile, the prospects of the Bucs moving to
Cleveland are increasing, according to Bart Hubbuch of the Akron
BEACON-JOURNAL. FL state Sen. John Grant, in wake of the
rejection of a rental car tax to fund a new Bucs stadium:
"People back home should realize Buccaneer orange is rapidly
fading to Cleveland brown." The NFL has promised Cleveland a new
franchise no later than '99, but the league has said it won't
consider a Bucs-to-Cleveland move until after the '96 season
(AKRON BEACON-JOURNAL, 4/29).
