A new city-ordered audit shows the 49ers owe Santa Clara more than $2M for "public safety and other 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 Stadium -- 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 49ers to "park cars on a city-owned golf course during games and other events." There is also $488,000 that the city, by its "own admission, never actually billed" the 49ers for -- largely to pay for "fire crews around the stadium, and to reimburse local police for investigating" a '14 beating of a 49ers fan inside a stadium restroom. The 49ers 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 rep "elected to use the surplus funds for public safety 'preplanning' to avoid tapping into Santa Clara's general fund." 49ers VP/Communications Bob Lange said that the team is "required to pay a set figure," which is currently $1.9M a year, for public safety -- with the city "owing nothing over that amount." Lange: "We have paid every single bill we have received from the city of Santa Clara" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 7/12). Santa Clara Mayor Lisa Gillmor, who has publicly feuded with the 49ers over stadium issues and pushed for the $200,000 audit, said that the findings "affirmed her belief that taxpayers are improperly subsidizing" the $1.3B stadium (MERCURYNEWS.com, 7/12).
