by Bradley Parsons and Brooks Terry
Staff Writers
City Council members say they want a closer look at a proposed deal between the mayor’s office and the Jaguars to renovate AllTel Stadium.
Council president Lad Daniels was one of the members calling for committee review of the $13 million deal. Committee hearings would give the Council, its auditors and the public time to learn the complicated deal’s details, he said.
“A bill like this deals with a significant amount of money,” said Daniels. “It’s important to look at all the facts.”
The proposal calls for the City to pay for $8 million in maintenance to the city-owned stadium, including new scoreboards, and to loan Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver $5 million to upgrade the stadium’s most expensive seats. Daniels said the Council would likely give close scrutiny to the 15-year repayment schedule on the loan as well as the proposed 2 percent interest rate. The Council, he said, may want the money paid back more quickly and at a better rate.
“It may get to the point where we amend the bill where we’d like to be paid back sooner rather than later,” he said.
Council member Jerry Holland, who sits on the Finance Committee that will likely see the bill first, said the interest rate charged by the City should, at minimum, cover the City’s cost in loaning the money.
Holland said the Council would not be pressured into rushing the bill through. The Jaguars have requested work start soon in order to beat deadlines of next season and the Super Bowl.
“There is certainly a time factor, but the City Council didn’t create the time factor. They can’t expect us not to do due diligence,” said Holland.
Holland said the City would fulfill its obligations to do necessary maintenance to the stadium. One of the Council’s primary tasks, he said, would be to separate wants from needs.
“I don’t look at it like we’re doing all these repairs for the Jaguars,” he said. “We (the City) own the stadium, and we will receive value from maintaining and improving the stadium.”