From the beginning, a new Minnesota Vikings stadium in the city of Minneapolis has called for a hefty chunk of change coming from the city itself to help build the stadium and keep it running. A provision in the latest plan for that new stadium could change the plan's funding from the city to a lot more or a lot less than expected depending on how the local economy does.
Mayor R.T. Rybak's administration has said the city's contribution of local sales taxes to a new stadium on the Metrodome site will amount to approximately $338 million for capital and operations over 30 years, or $675 million when including interest costs. But a provision in the stadium bill raises that figure if the local economy booms.
The city's contribution could reach $890 million if tax revenue grows by 5 percent each year for 30 years, based on a Star Tribune analysis of figures provided by the city's chief financial officer, Kevin Carpenter. In that scenario, the city would also be left with more money to spend on the convention center and economic development.
Conversely, the city's contribution could fall to $592 million if the taxes stay flat.
This could be seen as unfair to the city, being forced to pay tons more of their revenue simply because they've made more money over a period. That's the problem with having an 86 page long bill involved with the stadium, there's bound to be tons of different bits like that complicating the numbers.
If nothing else, the possible increased funding being streamed to a stadium would help prevent any overages on the building costs. And if the economy and taxes stay stagnant over the next couple of years, it would be mostly a moot point.
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