A new Santa Clara-ordered audit says that the 49ers owe the city more than $2M for public safety and other Levi's Stadium costs "over the past three years -- findings that the team sharply disputes," according to Matier & Ross of the S.F. CHRONICLE. The tab includes $894,000 left over from a stadium construction fund that was "used to cover various public safety costs during the opening year at Levi’s -- but that wasn’t included in the budget approved by the city-run Stadium Authority." It also includes $719,000 to "cover revenue that the city lost by allowing the Niners to park cars on a city-owned golf course during games and other events." Finally, it includes $488,000 that the city, "by its own admission, never actually billed the Niners for." The report also "takes aim at the Stadium Authority management, saying it lacks 'controls and procedures to verify' that the city’s share of fees collected from the public and private parking lots operated by an outfit called Citypark are accurate, and saying there should be a special audit." The audit is the "latest fodder in the city’s war with the Niners over how the stadium is being run." The team "did push back on the audit finding that $894,000 from the construction fund had been used improperly to pay for public safety." The 49ers said that the city’s own stadium representative "elected to use the surplus funds for public safety 'preplanning' to avoid tapping into Santa Clara’s general fund" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 6/12).
