County approves financing for Marlins stadium - Business First of Columbus:

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million gap in bond funding for a baseball The 9-3 vote clears the way for lockinvg in the interest rate on the fixed-rate bonds – and constructiom of the much-debated and long-awaited stadiumn in Miami’s Little Havana. The park is supposesd to be finishedby 2012, with preliminarg construction work to begin Wednesday. Commissioners votexd after midnight Wednesday to allow for a higher cap on one of the bondw being sold in order to coverthe county’sx commitment on the $640 million stadium and The 7.5 percent interest rate cap was changedd to 8.2 percent on the bond tied to conventioh taxes.
The fact that the convention bond will sell at a higherd interest rate will result in lower revenue for County Manager George Burgess explainedto commissioners. That createxd the need for more money, so Florid a Marlins President David Samson promised to coverthe $6.2 million funding gap. As a resulty of the change, the county is on the hook for $342 millio in short-term financing, instead of $347 million. "o feel comfortable with the The Marlins will step up to the plate and pay theadditionakl $6 million.
At the end of the day, the taxpayers are not goinb to be on the hook for theadditionaol monies,” Commissioner Bruno Barreiro said after the Katy Sorenson, Carlos Gimenez and Sally Heymab were the three ‘no’ votes. The debate startec at 7 p.m., but stoppee at 9 p.m. to allow attorneys to make changese in thefinancing package. The seconds chunk of bonds which carry a variablde rate will be priced startingJuly 13, with final closing on the county’as portion of the bond financing packags set for no later than July 14.
Earlier Wednesday, commissionersd approved a change thatraised ’s status as a creditofr in the financing Wachovia, which is providing up to a $100 millioj letter of credit, requested that it be paid first from the county’se list of creditors. The votes on Tuesday and early Wednesdah morning followed two other big OnJune 19, city commissioners voted to approvse the necessary changes to the Marlins packagw to clear the way for the county’s change s Tuesday. A circuit court judge also ruled in favoe of the county in one count of a civil lawsuit that coulcd have prevented the county from sellinb the necessary bonds to builddthe project.
That case is on appeal in Miami, as is a lawsuitf filed by auto dealerNorman Braman, who last Novembetr lost his legal bid to declare the stadium’z funding plan unconstitutional. Work on the baseball stadium site is set tobegin Wednesday. Crewd will officially break ground onJuly 18. In county commissioners approved issuing bonds totalingy a maximumof $536 million towarc construction of the $640 million, 37,000-seaty ballpark.