Jax stadium improvements to be paid off in “fifteen to thirty years”

Regarding the Jacksonville amphitheater proposal, part of a package of $90 million in stadium improvements to be halved, in terms of financing, by the city of Jacksonville and the Jacksonville Jaguars, there are at least a few salient questions.

A conversation with Marsha Oliver, the mayor’s spokesperson, revealed some answers on Monday.

Oliver stressed that the proposed deal would have no impact on the redevelopment of the shipyards.

Regarding the financial piece, in which the total obligation to the $45 million from the current deal coupled with the balance of the $41 million for the scoreboards, the questions are more open.

While shifting interest rates preclude a precise time table of when the full obligation would be retired, Oliver says the range would be “possibly fifteen to thirty years.”

Part of the reason for the uncertainty: all of the city’s borrowing under the current administration has been short term, and this obviously is a longer term project.

The bed tax would be used to pay the debt down, relieving the General Fund of obligation on this front.