Even with the historically low interest rate Hamilton County got for an initial bond issue for the Bengals' Paul Brown Stadium, interest payments will total more than $70 million over the 30-year life of the debt, according to county documents.
That's almost as much as the $71.6 million in bonds the county sold last month to pay for land and other initial costs of the $400.3 million football complex.
County officials have always planned to pay off the stadium debt early. During the 1996 campaign to increase the county sales tax by a half-cent on the dollar to fund stadium construction, officials estimated the debt could be paid off in 20 years.
Just like a home loan, the sooner the debt is paid off, the less the county will pay in interest.
Being able to pay off the debt early all depends on the growth in the county's sales tax receipts, Commissioner Bob Bedinghaus said.
''It's obviously going to be sooner than 30 years,'' Mr. Bedinghaus said, because the 30-year debt was based on projections of a 2 percent county sales tax growth rate. Average annual sales tax growth over the past 10 years has been 5.25 percent, he said.
When the county issued bonds Jan. 13, officials got the benefit of the market's record-low interest rates. The county's average interest rate of 4.87 percent for the bond issue was even lower than the 4.95 percent rate secured 30 years ago when debt was issued to build Riverfront Stadium, now Cinergy Field.
Mr. Bedinghaus said the low interest rate - far lower than the 5.50 percent the county used in financial models - would save $10 million in financing costs.
The county has not decided when to issue the remaining $250 million in debt.
So far, a number of the county's stadium cost estimates have been conservative. Bids for demolition and sewer work, for example, have come in below the county's budget.
Land costs are the exception. The county initially budgeted $50 million, but because county juries have awarded owners higher prices for their land, the county increased its land budget to $63.5 million.
The stadium will sit roughly between Central Avenue and Elm Street, with Pete Rose Way to the north and Mehring Way to the south.
