The nonbinding agreement for financing a Tampa Bay Rays stadium highlights a familiar tension in a strong-mayor form of government: Tampa City Council members cast the votes but typically are not part of the discussions producing the terms.
While officials in Mayor Jane Castor’s administration participated directly in talks with the Rays, Hillsborough County and Tampa Sports Authority, several councilors have said they were not involved in crafting the memorandum of understanding that includes roughly $180 million in city-backed funding.
The concerns surfaced during the tense May 21 council meeting in which the MOU was approved, 4-3. Before the vote, members Bill Carlson and Lynn Hurtak, both mayoral candidates, questioned whether alternative financing structures should have been considered during negotiations rather than after the framework was put up for passage.
The $2.3 billion stadium would go on Drew Park land now used by Hillsborough College's Dale Mabry campus. The MOU commits the city to $80 million from a half-cent Community Investment Tax (CIT) and $100 million from future property taxes through an existing Community Redevelopment Area.
ALSO READ: Florida budget includes $50 million for Hillsborough College as part of Rays' stadium deal
The mayor’s negotiating team has been led by CFO Dennis Rogero, City Attorney Scott Steady and Chief of Staff John Bennett. All have been at council meetings to answer questions. Rays officials have also regularly updated councilors individually.
Carlson has been among the most vocal critics of the process, arguing that council members were not involved in shaping the deal and has said the administration had no legal authority to negotiate on behalf of the CRA board.
“All kind of options that could be discussed,” Carlson said. “Unfortunately, the administration did not include us. I did talk to the Rays about those ideas, but somebody told them no.”
The council agreed to hold a discussion the following week for “input on negotiations pertaining to the quadrilateral agreement for the Rays stadium.”
“I think there are a lot of things that we could put in if we were involved in the negotiation,” Carlson said. “We're out on the front line listening to the community and can do that.”
ALSO READ: Rays say they won't renegotiate core stadium financing despite city council's concerns
A day later, Rays CEO Ken Babby told the Tampa Bay Times the team would not reopen negotiations on the financial framework. When the council reconvened on May 28, they removed the agenda item.
“We in good faith scheduled that discussion,” Carlson said, who made the motion to remove the item. “If they come back and say they want to negotiate, then we should.”
Hagan understands the council’s discord
County commission Chair Ken Hagan, who has been Hillsborough’s point person in Rays stadium discussions for 15 years, said that type of frustration is not unusual in a strong-mayor structure, which vests executive, administrative and budgetary power in the office of the mayor.
Hagan said the tension is understandable because council members ultimately must approve the agreement.
"You got to be sensitive to the fact that city council members are the ones that vote," Hagan told J.P. Peterson’s Fan Stream Sports podcast. "They're the ones that push the button both as a city of Tampa council member and also as a CRA board member."
Counties typically operate differently. Hillsborough, for example, uses a commission-administrator system in which elected commissioners set policy while a professional manager oversees day-to-day operations.
“I think some of those issues have just manifested themselves during this discussion, but they're present in all the city of Tampa issues,” Hagan said. “So, I think you see some of that that's present now, and then you have the legitimate questions that need to be asked, and so sometimes it gets kind of cloudy.”
ALSO READ: Tampa City Council signs off on Rays stadium framework, moves deal to next stage
Hagan said he has stressed the differences with Rays ownership and credited them for frequently briefing council members “every step of the way.”
“But I think at times there always seems to be a rub between the city council and the mayor, irrespective of who the council members are and who the mayor is,” Hagan said. “So, it's not saying this council member is right, this mayor's right or wrong. It's just an inherent rub because the structure is different.”
The county commission voted 5-2 to approve the MOU, which calls for $360 million from the CIT sales tax, $303 million from tourist taxes and reserves, $103 million from “various sources” and $30 million from federal disaster recovery funds.
Does the city have enough ‘yes’ votes?
So, what’s next? With the MOU approved by both local boards, a detailed negotiation phase is underway to finalize key deal terms that were not resolved in the MOU. These include funding backstops for public contributions, capital maintenance and community benefits.
Hagan anticipates final votes by the county and city on a binding deal in mid-July. But some votes may have to change to get it through the city council a second time.
Carlson voted for the MOU at the May 21 meeting as a condition to secure state money to rebuild Hillsborough College. But he’s on record as saying he’s a “no” in the future because he doesn’t approve of public dollars subsidizing private development.
ALSO READ: DeSantis says state will support Hillsborough College rebuild in Rays stadium deal
The governance questions raised by the Rays negotiations could take on added significance beyond baseball. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers recently began discussions with the sports authority about a reported $1 billion renovation of Raymond James Stadium, a county-owned facility. The talks are tied to a potential lease extension and could require substantial public participation.
"We're just starting to have those conversations now," Hagan said.
Hagan said the county and city preserved roughly $500 million in CIT and tourist tax revenues ahead of the Bucs’ proposal. He also said that with some financial creativity, there is sufficient public funding to address requests from multiple teams.
"We're not going to do a deal for one team to the detriment of another," he said.
