It was almost a clean sweep.
Despite not being unanimous, supporters of the $90 million EverBank Field upgrades walked away Tuesday with wins in the final three City Council committees reviewing the deal.
Two committees — Rules and Recreation, Community Development, Public Health and Safety — unanimously approved contributing $45 million toward the club seat upgrades and building of a city-owned amphitheater and multipurpose outdoor practice facility.
In Land Use and Zoning, however, council member Danny Becton declined his support. It came a day after he held the same stance in the Finance Committee.
Becton again questioned how the project — combined with the $43 million scoreboard and north end zone upgrades two years ago — could be paid for and still fund maintenance needs for other city-owned venues.
When he asked how much of the scoreboard project’s principal had been paid off to date, he was told none.
“This is called kicking the can down the road,” said Becton.
The stadium projects tap a portion of the tourism-driven bed tax that can’t be used for everyday services. Mayor Lenny Curry’s senior staff is proposing financing the projects with short-term commercial paper while rates are low before converting the debt to long-term fixed rate bonds.
Doing so would allow the maintenance fund to accrue more money. In addition, Curry officials want to increase the ticket surcharge rates on venues like Veterans Memorial Arena and the Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts.
Those fees, now at $1 per ticket, haven’t been raised since the mid-1990s and could pump more money into the maintenance fund.
Council Vice President Lori Boyer said the deal actually is better than the current setup for funding capital improvement.
SMG, operator of the city-owned facilities, has a $73 million wish list of improvements for the stadium, arena and other venues. Boyer surmised that a large chunk — about $25 million — alone would be taken off the list with the club seat renovations.
Sam Mousa, Curry’s chief administrative officer, doesn’t expect the two new facilities would need much maintenance in the first few years, which could provide an opportunity to transfer that funding to other needs.
With four committees now done with their review, the full package of upgrades is ready for a final vote Tuesday. Should it pass, construction would begin just after the New Year and is anticipated to be complete before the start of the 2016 NFL season.
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