New Arena Package Racing the Clock

City leaders had counted on the legislature to return the money to help pay for an arena, a South End minor league baseball stadium and five center city cultural projects.

The package Charlotte City Council approved to put on a June 5 referendum included $215 million for the arena, $120 million for a baseball stadium and other cultural improvements such as a new Afro-American Cultural Center.

But the legislature's action will force city council members to come up with a new package to present to the voters. State lawmakers say they need the exact wording of a new city funding proposal within days--and there are fewer than a dozen legislative sessions remaining.

One suggestion by city officials was to raise the hotel tax within the city limits by one percentage point, which would be enough to make up the $3.2 million difference.

The player's salary tax is one of five streams of money that city leaders earmarked for the arena package. The hotel tax, which generates between $8 and $10 million a year in Charlotte, is also part of the package. The balance would be paid out of an increase in the local car rental tax, a ticket tax and rent from the Charlotte hornets NBA basketball team. The Hornets are threatening to move out unless a new and more profitable stadium is built.

Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory says the city will have to trim its arena package and suggested two options. All six projects bundled with the arena could be trimmed, he says. Alternately, single projects could be eliminated.

The Charlotte City Council decided at its February meeting to hold a November general election for the arena referendum. But the Charlotte Hornet's want to be playing in a new venue by October 2003. The referendum date was switched to June when the Hornets agreed to pay the $400,000 cost of the referendum.

Critics of the move say this only gives the area a short time to drum up support. The Charlotte Chamber is coordinating the campaign, while several groups such as Citizens for Effective Government, will be lobbying against it.

Opponents, in common with similar groups across the country facing the same issue, are questioning whether it's fair to spend public dollars on a facility benefiting a private business.

Supporters argue the move is towards a Center City that will enrich residents throughout the region as well as attracting tourists. They arepointing out that the Hornets and tourism-related taxes will support the project, not property taxes. The Hornets say they are losing $1 million a month at the present arena.