Money being generated to build new sports stadiums in Cincinnati will be spent to maintain and repair Cinergy Field.
Hamilton County officials said Friday they expect the fund used to maintain and repair Cinergy Field to be roughly $540,000 in the red this year. Money raised by a half-cent-on-a-dollar sales tax increase to build two stadiums will cover the loss.
The sales tax money could end up subsidizing Cinergy Field to the tune of about $1 million a year for the remainder of its life, said Suzanne Burck, director of Hamilton County's administrative services department.
County officials are working to beef up revenues from Cinergy operations. But they don't expect to be able to avoid subsidies because of growth in maintenance costs and payments the county must make to the Cincinnati Bengals, she said.
While the use of the sales tax revenues to cover Cinergy Field losses appears legal, it isn't what taxpayers expected when they approved the tax increase to build stadiums, said Tim Mara, a lawyer who led the charge against the sales tax increase in 1996.
"We tried to warn everybody that it was a blank check, and that's what it's turned out to be," Mr. Mara said.
County Commission President Bob Bedinghaus, the county's point man on the stadium issue, said commissioners tried to increase Cinergy's operating revenue by increasing parking revenues and selling naming rights, which transformed Riverfront Stadium into Cinergy Field.
It just wasn't enough, he said, and it makes sense to use the sales tax revenues to maintain the current stadium until new homes for the Bengals and Cincinnati Reds are built.
"I don't view it as a big deal," he added. "The Reds and Bengals certainly have to play somewhere."
County Administrator David Krings argued that the sales tax was always intended to be used to retire the debt on the old stadium. This year's debt payment was $4.3 million. Removing that from Cinergy's operating budget brings it back into the black, he said.
Hamilton County Auditor Dusty Rhodes said he doesn't see an alternative for the county commissioners. "Somebody's got to be responsible," he said, and the taxpayers are going to pay the cost no matter what.
