ST. LOUIS • The estimated construction cost of the proposed football stadium downtown just grew by $10 million.
A draft of the newest legislation written for the St. Louis Board of Aldermen figures facility development will now top $1.01 billion.
Bonds issued by the state’s stadium authority, owner of the Edward Jones Dome, would cover the increase, according to . City taxes paid by fans during game days — on tickets, hot dogs and beer, for instance — would largely pay off those bonds, it says.
Dave Peacock, co-chairman of Gov. Jay Nixon’s stadium task force, .
People are also reading…
Instead, the project leans on the state to pay annual debt principal on the new bonds if the city doesn’t collect enough game-day tax revenue to cover it, according to the bill. Correspondingly, if game-day taxes more than cover debt payments, the money would pay the state back for its help, plus 5 percent interest, the bills says.
And if the stadium is wildly successful, the taxes could retire the debt early, or even cover the state’s own annual contribution to stadium construction.
On Monday, however, some Jefferson City legislators quickly expressed concern.
Sen. Rob Schaaf, R-St. Joseph, , said he had only briefly seen the new bill but worried that some of the added wording attempted to bind legislators, legally, to pass a state budget with debt payments included.
“They can’t force us to do that,†he said. “If that is what they’re intending to do, that’s pretty disgusting.â€
The draft of the bill also listed some new cost estimates and fund sources:
The task force projected building construction to increase by about $25 million. Site development jumped by $7 million. Site clearing, demolition and cleanup added $17 million.
Other costs dipped, some significantly. The new bill estimated reduced costs for the parking garage, for instance, by about $15 million, and of business relocation, by about $6 million.
To cover the new costs, the stadium authority would issue $80 million in bonds, instead of the $75 million contemplated earlier, and pay $10 million, instead of $5 million, out of authority bank accounts.
Peacock declined an interview, but briefly explained that the new costs are, in part, a reflection of pricing obtained by task force contractors and also of bills already paid as the task force has worked to develop plans and secure land on the north riverfront.
Stadium planning costs have totaled more than $13 million so far.