Rays stadium deal questioned in Pinellas County Commission meeting, vote scheduled

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - After St. Pete city council's historic vote that approved the Tampa Bay Rays' stadium deal last week, Pinellas County commissioners now have to give their blessing to spend more than $3 million on the project. 

Commissioners held their first meeting on Thursday, and the hope is to approve it next week. However, some of the Pinellas commissioners are raising concerns. 

"They have, what, three or four or five of those full-day meetings," Pinellas Commissioner Dave Eggers said of St. Pete City councilors. "We had, what, a three-hour meeting today?"

RELATED: St. Pete City Council approves proposed Rays stadium in historic vote, ending decades-long saga

Thursday's commission session was a workshop designed to iron out any last-minute questions before voting on Tuesday. 

Eggers had two questions: Could infrastructure money committed by the county's CRA be used by the Rays to pay off the team's own debt? And would the county's other commitments be jeopardized by spending $312.5 million of tourist taxes on the stadium?

"Where does that leave us in the event of something that's not normal from the beach renourishment perspective?" he asked.

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The St. Pete City Council approved a $700 million package last week, including $287.5 million of city bonds, the debt on those bonds and a land transfer. 

St. Pete Mayor Ken Welch reiterated to Pinellas commissioners that the project, including billions of dollars of development around the stadium, creates 37,000 jobs, affordable housing and office space. He also said it would boost county bed tax receipts. 

Pictured: St. Pete Mayor Ken Welch during the commission meeting.

"We're shooting for a unanimous vote, because this makes so much sense for our county and our city moving forward in terms of economic benefit, in terms of keeping the Rays here."

READ: New mixed use development planned at site of St. Pete YMCA

If county commissioners ask for changes to be made to the agreements over the CRA, the city council could be asked to vote again on that part of the 12-part agreement. 

The county administrator's office said they do not believe that funding the stadium will impact other line items like beach renourishment.

St. Pete city officials are hoping for a vote on Tuesday.

Pictured: Renderings of the proposed new Rays stadium. 

MORE: Rays announce plans for new $1.3 billion stadium in St. Petersburg: 'Our Rays are here to stay'

"Let's not rush this deal," said Eggers. "On the other hand, if we come together on Tuesday and have the questions answered that we have asked, and have the opportunity to have further dialog. Yeah, we would probably have a vote on Tuesday."

Another question commissioners have echoes what some opponents on city council have wondered about, and that is the valuation of the land and why it was sold below its supposed market value.

City leaders said the opponents were unfairly comparing values between different uses for the land, i.e. a stadium versus mixed-use residential.

The mayor, who is a former member of the county commission, said he appreciates how diligently they're examining every aspect of the biggest deal in county history.

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