Friday, March 8, 2013

Cutler Bay Mayor Ed MacDougall in Tallahassee: Stadium renovation bill survives amendments, wins House panel approval - Legislature - MiamiHerald.com

TALLAHASSEE: Stadium renovation bill survives amendments, wins House panel approval - Legislature - MiamiHerald.com

Follow up to prior article Cutler Bay Mayor Ed MacDougall says "Stop the Stadium Madness!" and he wants other elected officials and everyone to join him.

Cutler Bay Mayor Ed MacDougall traveled up to Tallhassee today, Friday, March 8, 2013, and testified against use of taxpayer dollars for Dolphin Stadium. 

“I have spoken to almost all of the mayors of Miami-Dade County and they have asked me to share their opposition to this bad bill,” MacDougall said. “If Stephen Ross feels these improvements are necessary to keep his team competitive, we believe he should pay for them himself.”

The Dolphins proposal made it through its first committee stop in the Florida House, passing by a 12-4 vote. 

It survived numerous amendments including a proposal from Rep. Carlos Trujillo to have Broward County help foot the bill for proposed improvements to SunLife Stadium.  Rep. Trujillo said Broward had amassed $58 million in revenue in 2010 when the Super Bowl was held in South Florida, while Miami-Dade had collected $40 million.   “I think it is fair that if some people are going to receive the majority of the benefit, they should at least pay half the tax,” Trujillo said.

I am not surprised that the Herald reported that Broward officials thought otherwise.   Bottom line for now is that the Miami-Dade taxpayers are closer to being handed the entire costs for a project that enriches Broward County more than Miami-Dade. 

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