Tampa City Council members on Thursday elected to “delay their next scheduled vote” on the proposed $2.3B Rays ballpark by two months, according to Nina Moske of the TAMPA BAY TIMES. The change signals that council members have a “range of outstanding questions about the fast-forming deal, from funding to potential property tax cuts to public engagement.” The city’s Community Redevelopment Agency board, composed of the seven council members, was set to vote on a nonbinding stadium agreement — the same agreement approved by both Hillsborough’s County Commission and the city council last month. Instead, the vote was pushed to Aug. 20. The vote comes days after the Florida legislature voted to “approve a constitutional amendment proposed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to restructure the state’s property tax system.” Several council members said that the “question of property taxes now looms over the proposed stadium deal.” The city’s $180M contribution to the cost of the ballpark includes $100M from the Community Redevelopment Agency, which “would likely rely on tax increment financing, which leverages future tax value increases to pay for current projects.” The proposed ballpark site at the Dale Mabry campus of Hillsborough College sits in a corner of the Drew Park Community Redevelopment Area, where local property tax money is “funneled back into the region to address blight” (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 6/11).
