District Mayor Anthony A. Williams has sent long-awaited baseball stadium financing legislation to the D.C. Council without a key element the council has demanded: private money.
The legislative proposal, which was due in early April, was sent by Williams (D) to D.C. Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp late Friday.
The bill would give the mayor the authority to suspend a business tax if the full amount of money it would raise is not needed for ballpark construction and to create a special taxing district on new businesses near the stadium to help fund community programs.
But the bill does not include details about how the stadium would be financed. In his letter to Cropp (D), Williams said he intends to send along a private financing plan certified last month by the city's chief financial officer as well as an alternative plan.
In December, the council narrowly authorized construction of a $535 million stadium with the provision that the mayor find at least $140 million in private financing for the project. Council members, led by Cropp, worried that the city's largest businesses would have to pay too much under a gross receipts tax that will be used to finance much of the project.
In March, the city's chief financial officer, Natwar M. Gandhi, recommended that the council adopt a plan that combines $313 million in publicly financed bonds with a $246 million payment from Deutsche Bank.
But Williams has been hesitant to send such a proposal to the council. That's because the mayor's top adviser on baseball issues, Stephen M. Green, believes that public financing of the stadium would save city businesses as much as $232 million in gross receipts taxes when compared with the leading private financing plan from Deutsche Bank.
Green met with Gandhi's staff Friday to present more details on publicly financing all stadium costs. He said that the city would be able to secure far lower interest rates on bonds than would Deutsche Bank and that the bank would need far more reserves to back the project.
The burden on city businesses, Green argued at the meeting, would be far less under the public financing plan.
John Ross, Gandhi's top aide on baseball matters, said his office is reviewing Green's figures and will make a judgment by week's end. But Gandhi has been adamant that the Deutsche Bank plan is his favorite, and changing his mind will probably be difficult, other government officials said.
Council member Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), who has supported building a stadium with public money, said the administration should send the council the Deutsche Bank plan soon because it has been certified by Gandhi and is the most likely to gain council approval.
"Why they continue to massage and change things, I don't know," Evans said. "The votes are not on the council to do anything but the Deutsche Bank plan."
The council is trying to schedule public hearings on the financing plans, Evans added, but cannot do so until the mayor forwards the bank's plan or Green's alternative.
The council remains sharply divided over how to pay for a stadium. Some members believe that a new stadium complex for the Washington Nationals on the Anacostia waterfront in Southeast will help spark much-needed economic development in that long-neglected area. But several members say the city is pledging too much public money for a project that is less important than matters such as schools, health care and jobs.
Gaining Cropp's support will prove crucial if the council takes another vote on the financing plan, Evans acknowledged. And Cropp has insisted that some private financing is necessary for her approval. She did not return several messages left yesterday with her spokesman.
Gregory McCarthy, the mayor's top legislative aide, said the financing method being championed by Green is "in the spirit" of private financing because it does what Cropp wants: reduces the burden on businesses.
"Whether there is private money or not, the real result of what the council wants to do is reduce the cost to the people who are paying the cost," McCarthy said.
