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Posted Feb 17, 2010, 11:25 PM
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The Man
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Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Tempe, AZ
Posts: 1,535
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http://www.azcentral.com/community/tempe/articles/2010/02/16/20100216stadiumdistrict0216.html
Quote:
ASU, legislators explore ways to pay for fixes to athletic facilities
by Alia Beard Rau - Feb. 16, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
Sun Devil Stadium is slowly rusting away.
The 52-year-old Arizona State University football stadium is safe, officials say. But a 2007 analysis indicated that it may not remain that way for the next generation of fans without $70 million in repairs.
The cash-strapped state isn't likely to hand over the money, and ASU has shifted its money toward academic needs, said Steve Nielsen, ASU assistant vice president of university real estate. ASU hopes lawmakers will give the university a chance to raise the money.
For the second year in a row, legislators have proposed a law to allow Arizona's three state universities to create special financing districts and charge a fee to developers that build on university property. However, opponents say it's just another tax. The revenue would go toward the construction or renovation of athletic facilities.
"The state of Arizona is broke," bill sponsor Rep. Warde Nichols, R-Gilbert, said. "We're trying to figure out how to continue funding K-12 education, the universities and transportation, let alone anything else. We have to figure out ways to generate money to handle some of the things state government can't fund."
Last year, the bill made it through the House but never got a Senate hearing.
This year, Nichols and Sen. Thayer Verschoor, R-Gilbert, introduced bills in both the House and the Senate. Verschoor said it will be a tough sell again.
"It will be an uphill climb," he said. "We have to get some comfort there for the legislation."
Under current law, commercial developers on university property do not pay property taxes. Nichols said the measure would level the playing field between a new development on university property and one on private property that pays property taxes. The fee would be comparable to what the property taxes would otherwise be, he said.
Nichols said a district's boundaries have to be part of one contiguous area. For example, ASU couldn't include land at ASU Polytechnic in Mesa as part of a stadium district for the Tempe campus. It could include land ASU owns along Tempe Town Lake and near Mill Avenue.
Nichols also said the fee would only apply to future development.
Opponents say the district would create a new taxing mechanism, unfairly impact businesses on university land and take revenue away from core academic needs.
"At a time with the university is reeling from budget cuts, this money could be better spent going into academics and academic buildings and not into a stadium that's used a couple of times a year," said Sen. Ken Cheuvront, D-Phoenix.
Kevin McCarthy, president of the Arizona Tax Research Association, said he is sympathetic to funding needs but argued that this is not the solution.
"If this is approved, cities and counties will want it, too," he said. "You'll be setting a huge precedent."
He said if universities are concerned about leveling the playing field, businesses on university land should pay property taxes "just like everybody else."
Although the legislation would impact Northern Arizona University, the University of Arizona and Arizona State, it is ASU that is really pushing for it.
Sun Devil Stadium, with 50,000 seats, opened in 1958. New decks were built in the 1970s to add room for 20,000 more seats, and a final remodel added press boxes, luxury sky boxes and more seating in 1988.
Each year, the stadium draws more than 350,000 football fans. It also is used for other sporting events and has hosted a pope, a president and musical groups. It was the home of the Fiesta Bowl for 35 years and the Arizona Cardinals for 18, until they wanted a state-of-the-art facility and the University of Phoenix Stadium was built in Glendale.
In 2007, ASU President Michael Crow appointed a committee to study the stadium and develop proposals for upgrading Sun Devil Stadium. Nielsen said the group determined that $70 million is needed for structural repairs that should be done within the next 10 years.
An additional $100 million is needed for improvements such as restroom and concession renovations, improved seats and possibly an escalator to make higher levels more accessible to older fans, he said.
ASU has spent about $10 million since then in repairs, but there's still about 80 percent of the work left to do, Nielsen said.
If the stadium district is approved, Nielsen said revenue could start within five years as new development occurs. Once work is completed on the stadium, he said, the revenue could be used to renovate the basketball arena and other facilities.
"It's a fallacy that a concrete stadium will last forever," said Bruce Jensen, executive director of ASU's capital programs. "The stadium is safe now, but if money isn't spent on this facility, it could become unsafe."
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