Mitch Perry
Pinellas County Commissioners unanimously approved a resolution Tuesday to commit the City of Dunedin and the Toronto Blue Jays to a 25-year contract, which would keep spring training in town.
But the vote came with sharp criticism from some board members.
The county will commit $41.7 million toward the $81 million renovation project, a revision to the $46 million originally committed. The Jays will commit approximately $20 million, one-fourth of the project’s total cost.
The funds will be for a new clubhouse with state-of-the-art equipment, offices for the team’s staff and showers and locker rooms for the team’s 200-plus major- and minor-league players at the team’s current training facility site at the Englebert Complex on Solon Avenue.
It will also pay for “significant renovations to improve the fan experience” and increase capacity by 3,000 at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium at 373 Douglas Ave.
Other than a few opponents from Americans for Prosperity Florida — who complained about the public funding for a private company’s stadium — the board heard no significant opposition.
“We definitely oppose public funding for any spring training stadium,” said Carlos Velez with the Libre Initiative. “High paying long term jobs created by sports teams are usually few in number and are held by out of state individuals.”
“These are bed tax dollars, they are not dollars we can sue for law enforcement or public safety or housing or sewers,” alerted Commissioner Ken Welch to skeptics in the audience. “Folks need to understand that we couldn’t spend that for other needs.”
The funds come from Tourist Development Council (TDC) bed tax dollars, raised through a 6 percent tax allocated to marketing and capital projects.
Welch admitted he would have felt better if the county’s commitment wasn’t so costly. But he added that because Dunedin is smaller than Clearwater, the county’s contribution has to be larger than what other Pinellas municipalities have chipped in on other spring training facilities. Dunedin is committed to spending $5.6 million.
Commissioner David Eggers is a former mayor of Dunedin who ran the city several years ago when the team began making noises about moving to a new location if they didn’t get public funds to upgrade their facilities.
Eggers said getting the Jays to now allocate 25 percent funding was an impressive bit of negotiating by County Administrator Mark Woodard. “It used to be fifty percent,” he bemoaned about what the team would previously commit on a joint public-private project.
“I want to make it clear that if this were an increase in the state sales tax, or a local county tax, I would be against it,” said Commissioner John Morroni, emphasizing that only people staying in local hotels and motels are paying for the stadium upgrades.
Commission Chair Janet Long voted to move the resolution along with the rest of her colleagues, but said her vote isn’t guaranteed when the issue comes back to the BOCC next month for a final time.
“While it’s a great deal for the club and it’s a great deal for Dunedin, I think the deal for Pinellas County could be better,” Long said, saying that she wished the entire cost of the redevelopment would be reduced or the Jays would chip in more of their own funds.
Long added that it was a real question for her that, while the Tourist Development dollars are funding the entire project, nearly half the funds are going toward a clubhouse the public won’t be able to use at all.
Commissioner Karen Seel agreed: “I think the training facility is more privately used, and … to me, funding the stadium that is open to the public and open to the tourists is a more relevant expenditure for the bed taxes vs. the training facility.”
Nevertheless, Seel went along with her colleagues in supporting the deal.
“It is a money thing,” agreed Woodard, “make no mistake about it. But they (the Jays) really love this community.”
The Blue Jays have played spring training games since their franchise was created in 1977, and their Class A team plays in Dunedin all season long.
A more detailed formal agreement will come before the Pinellas Commission in late January.
