Christine Jordan Sexton
Daytona International Speedway President Joie Chitwood III sent a letter to the state’s chief economist Wednesday night saying the racetrack should have ranked higher in a competitive bid for sports incentive dollars.
In his letter to Office of Economic and Demographic Research Coordinator Amy Baker, Chitwood said the speedway should have been ranked No. 2, not No. 4 in the competitive bid, because the racetrack was inappropriately scored in two categories.
The speedway has 101 permanent full-time positions, and, 65 percent of the $101 million in materials used in the Daytona Rising project were purchased in Florida, he said in his letter that was delivered late Wednesday night.
“With these clarifications, we believe the scoring and ranking for the Daytona International Speedway application should be corrected and subsequently ranked second among the four applicants,” he wrote in the brief letter.
The Florida Legislature last month asked Baker to review and rank the four applications after the Department of Economic Opportunity said it did not have to rank the applications. See story. The DEO is the agency that was charged with developing the competitive application process.
Baker’s review placed Orlando and Jacksonville at the top of the list. See story.
Baker noted, though, that there were several flaws in the DEO’s economic analysis tool and that the agency did not create a process that complied with the law.
In addition to the Daytona International Speedway, three others submitted applications for million in grant money: The City of Orlando, the City of Jacksonville, and South Florida Stadium LLC. Combined the applications totaled $9 million, or $2 million more than what is available.
Daytona International Speedway applied for $3 million in incentives, the Jacksonville Jaguars requested $1 million in incentives, the Miami Dolphins applied for $3 million in incentives and Orlando City Soccer Club applied for $2 million in incentives.
The final say on how the money is appropriated rests with the Legislative Budget Commission, which is not required to adhere to the ranking. The LBC has not been scheduled to meet.
House Speaker Steve Crisafulli said in an email statement that he wants the LBC to take up the issue but that he’s “terribly disappointed they will not have the analysis we anticipated. There is plenty of time for these facilities to prove their financial case to the members of the LBC.”
Crisafulli added that he does not “intend to weigh in on how they should vote.”
Crisafulli said he was not aware of the speedway’s letter to Baker.
