The total project would cost $119 million, an amount not given before.
The biggest chunk, $59 million, would come from tourism taxes. That would be combined with $25 million from Mesa to build a stadium and practice facilities. The remaining $35 million would come from the Cubs, a land transaction and infrastructure already in place. However, the exact split hasn’t been identified.
But key details are still unknown to everybody involved.
As officials announced Friday they will introduce legislation today to provide part of the funding, they acknowledged they haven’t settled on tax rates or certain funding formulas.
“Exactly what those will be is yet to be determined,” said House Majority Leader John McComish, R-Ahwatukee Foothills.
McComish will sponsor the bill, which he said will be written with several blank lines where the key financial details will later be filled in.
Lawmakers still need to figure out how much money will come from a car-rental tax and from a ticket surcharge on Cactus League games.
Because of resistance from some that people across Maricopa County would pay for a Mesa facility, some lawmakers want the taxes to raise additional money for improvements to other spring training complexes in the Valley. Lawmakers are talking with tourism industry and baseball officials to see what they would or would not support before they set tax rates in the bill, he said.
“That’s part of what we’ve still got to figure out,” McComish said.
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Originally Posted by jmcclain19
