In Milwaukee, Don Walker noted the amount of sales-tax money the Miller Park Stadium District received this month from the Wisconsin Department of Revenue is “one of the lowest September sales-tax distributions since the 0.1% sales tax was imposed in 1996.” The district received a “total of $2,017,213,” representing sales-tax collections from July. That distribution is “12.7% below last year's distribution.” District Exec Dir Mike Duckett wrote in an e-mail, “As we have stated previously, the declining sales tax receipts will not force the district to collect any additional sales tax revenues, it is simply taking us a little longer to collect the same amount of money required to pay off the original Miller Park construction debt” (JSONLINE.com, 9/26).
ANOTHER DIMENSION: In N.Y., Mike Puma notes the Mets will “conclude their home schedule today without much doubt -- if any -- general manager Sandy Alderson made the right call last offseason when he decided to shorten the dimensions at the previously cavernous ballpark.” Puma notes there have been “46 homers hit at Citi Field this season that wouldn’t have cleared the fences last year.” Citi Field had “yielded an average of 1.91 homers per game this season entering last night, making it the ninth toughest ballpark in the National League in which to hit a homer” (N.Y. POST, 9/27).
SPRING IN THEIR STEP: Lee County (Fla.) Commission candidate Charlie Whitehead, in discussing Spring Training in the area, said, “Do we need a baseball team at City of Palms Park? Yes we do.” Whitehead’s opponent, Larry Kiker added, “Absolutely. The Nationals are a strong candidate, I understand." In Florida, Bob Rathgeber notes both candidates “slammed the current commissioners for using tourist development dollars to fund the new Boston Red Sox stadium at the expense of other tourist-related projects.” The Twins are also “seeking as much as” $40M in improvements to Hammond Stadium. Kiker suggested that “maybe all three teams ought to get together in one room and come up with a deal” (Ft. Myers NEWS-PRESS, 9/27).
