January 14, 2004

Minneapolis approves stadium financing plan (sorta)

Hennepin county commissioners voted 4-3 yesterday to approve a $535 million stadium plan for the Minnesota Twins, though financing details remained fuzzy. Under the county proposal, the team would pay $120 million, the state would pay $100 million, and Minneapolis would pay $7 million (a 1997 vote capped city stadium spending at $10 million), while the county would sell $308 million in bonds that would be paid off ... somehow. Possible revenue sources include a hotel/motel tax, a restaurant tax surcharge, or a sales tax surcharge, not of which are likely to be greeted enthusiastically by business owners or consumers. Commissioner Gail Dorfman, one of the three "no" votes on the resolution, told the St. Paul Pioneer Press: "I'm having trouble forgetting that 28 days ago we passed a budget with $36 million in human services cuts alone."