Community Investment Tax

Commissioner Ken Hagan tells WDAE existing restricted revenues can fund most of the county's share, but critics of the plan say taxpayers are still exposed through reserves and emergency dollars.

The team reduced its public funding request to about $1 billion for its $2.3 billion proposed stadium, but Hillsborough officials say financing assumptions and deal terms still require further talks as deadlines near.

The county commission also received the requested outside legal opinion on whether it could use the Community Investment Tax to help fund the stadium.

The plan would cost $125 million with the county matching dollar-for-dollar up to $75 million. That equates to $5 million annually for 15 years.

There are calls for transparency as the board negotiates using the half-cent Community Investment Tax to help pay for the new ballpark on the site of Hillsborough College's Dale Mabry campus.

Because both referendums address public schools, voters may feel like they have to choose between the two taxes.

An extension to a half-cent sales tax that has been in place for nearly 30 years will go before the voters in November in Hillsborough County. But it also reduces the amount that would go to the county's public schools.