Officials Seek To Use General Fund For Marlins Ballpark Parking
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Miami Officials Say $9M Needed To Jump-Start
Garages, Parking Lots For New Marlins Ballpark |
Miami City Commissioners are "being asked to dip into the lifeline of local government -- the general fund -- to help build the parking complex" for the new Marlins ballpark, according to Charles Rabin of the MIAMI HERALD. Tapping into the general fund was "one of the major sticking points in the controversial stadium debate," and administrators "offered everything but a flat-out guarantee that the city's general fund ... would not be touched" for the ballpark when commissioners last month voted in favor of the facility. But Miami City Manager Pete Hernandez and CFO Larry Spring said that they need $9M "from reserves in the general fund to jump-start the design and construction of the garages and parking lots." Hernandez "portrays the financing plan as a 'temporary advance,' saying in a memo to commissioners that the money will be returned to the city's bank account after Miami issues the bonds for the parking sites." Hernandez is "asking commissioners to take up the issue Thursday." Spring "called it 'internal borrowing,' and said it's a common practice when the city goes to the bond market." But Rabin notes those guarantees are "likely to be met with questions -- and some skepticism -- from commissioners, who say they didn't expect any money from that pool to be used." The city "expects to go to market in December or January," and critics noted that in the current economic climate, interest rates "could be sky high." City Commissioner Tomas Regalado, who voted against the ballpark plan, said of the funding request, "That's an unpleasant surprise. It's very uncomfortable to advance so much money" (MIAMI HERALD, 4/21).
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