The city of Cleveland has agreed to give the Browns a “$5.8 million lump sum for stadium repairs, but public officials worry about the source of such payments after a countywide tax for maintaining the building runs out in 2015,” according to Thomas Ott of the Cleveland PLAIN DEALER. The Cleveland City Council yesterday voted 16-2 to “let the team take the money from a city-administered tax on alcohol and tobacco sales.” The city “leases the stadium to the football team" and is required to provide "only $850,000 a year for major improvements.” Browns General Counsel Fred Nance said that the $850,000 figure was a "compromise at the time the agreement was drawn up.” He added that the amount, equal to "less than 1 percent of the building's $300 million construction cost, is not nearly enough to cover what he termed routine work.” Ott reports the Browns want to use the nearly $6M “to refurbish seats and replace, repair and waterproof concrete inside and outside the 12-year-old building.” Ken Silliman, the Chief of Staff of Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, said that the amount approved yesterday “is supposed to free the city from its repair obligations for seven years.” However, Silliman would not "rule out tapping sin-tax money again during that time if necessary.” Silliman: “We own Cleveland Browns Stadium. When you own a building and a few years go by, it starts to develop needs. It's just like when you own a home." Ott notes Cleveland's obligations for stadium repairs “will spike from $850,000 to $5.9 million a year in 2021.” The amount will “continue to rise annually, reaching $7.1 million before the lease runs out in 2025” (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER 2/7).
