Lowry Signs Bill To Finance Ballpark Plan Still Hinges On King County Approval

Gov. Mike Lowry donned a Seattle Mariners T-shirt and sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” with a group of children Tuesday as he signed a $325 million plan to build a ballpark for the Seattle Mariners.

“This is something that is important to the lives of all of us,” Lowry told about 460 cheering youngsters at Lafayette Elementary School.

The stadium proposal, cobbled together in an emergency legislative session last week, combines state revenue with still-to-be-approved King County tax increases and $45 million from the Mariners.

Lowry predicted the King County Council will approve the plan next week, dismissing members’ concerns about a potential shortfall of $30 million or more and saying there will be plenty of money.

The Mariners, eliminated Tuesday from the American League Championship Series by the Cleveland Indians, will go on the block Oct. 30 without the promise of a new stadium, owners say.

The Mariners have lost an estimated $67 million in the past four years in the multipurpose, concrete-roofed Kingdome.

The ballpark envisioned by political leaders and the Mariners features a retractable roof - insisted on by the club owners - that can be cranked open on clear days, as well as better lines of sight and lucrative luxury boxes.

“We will see a stadium built and the Mariners will stay in Washington,” said Lowry, flanked by legislative leaders, Mariners president John Ellis and 10-year-old student lobbyist Sam Keeler.

“That is very important to a quality of life and very important to our economy. … This is an economic investment.”

Every time the team is on national television, it amounts to a free four-hour ad for the state, the governor said.

Keeler, whose handwritten plea to “save the Mariners” was widely distributed by the governor’s office as part of a public-relations push for the financing deal, got special attention.

“It’s your democracy - you can make it work,” the governor told the boy and his classmates.

Lowry had no plans to attend Tuesday night’s sold-out do-or-die Game 6, but said he was hoping to take in the Mariners at the World Series.

Lowry, Seattle Mayor Norm Rice, County Councilman Greg Nickels and legislative leaders predicted the county council will approve three local-option tax increases.

There is no chance of another special session to adjust the plan, Lowry said: “That would not happen.”

A number of the council members are concerned the package is inadequate to finance the heavy bond debt the project will require. Deficit estimates range up to $53 million.

The council’s finance chairman, Peter Von Reichbauer, said the Mariners have asked the county to proceed with the legislation despite the questions.

“It’s a tough vote,” Nickels said. “The Legislature found it was a tough vote. But the Mariners think it can get the job done and I think it will have enough support when the vote is actually taken.”

He said he thought any shortfall could be covered with “stadium naming rights, which are bringing $10 million or $20 million in other cities.”

Paul Isaki, the Mariners vice president, said the financial picture will take more than a year to come into focus, as the facility is designed, a site is chosen and early environmental studies, permitting and site preparation are done.

“We need to see what it will actually cost, and so the issue of capacity (of the financial package) is only half the story,” he said in an interview.

He dismissed the possibility of a larger team contribution.

“By the time we walk in in 1999, a target date that is growing dimmer, the Mariners will have invested $250 million, including the purchase price and the losses,” he said.

Lowry and other leaders said adequate funding will materialize.

“The numbers are actually conservative and there should be extra dollars at the end that can be used to retire the bonds early,” the governor said. “I think the council is responsive and will do the responsible thing. This is a package that will build the stadium.”

Lowry produced figures that show a projected surplus of $16 million at the end of 20 years. Bond sales would bring in $283 million when $267 million is needed, he said. And state revenue experts say the 4 percent annual growth in taxes assumed in the bill is lower than the average of the past decade.

“The numbers will work out. The county is right to take the proper caution, but they ought to let it go through,” Rice said.

“This is just people looking for an excuse to vote no” said House Speaker Clyde Ballard, R-East Wenatchee, of the GOP-controlled council.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: The package Total Financing: $325 million, including $168 million from King County taxpayers, $107 million in state revenue and $45 million from the Mariners. State: A scratch-off sports-theme lottery game would raise about $48 million over the next 20 years. A sales tax credit for the project would cost the treasury about $59 million. No general taxes are raised. King County: A sales tax surcharge of .5 percent on food and beverages sold at restaurants and taverns in the county would raise about $9 million a year. A car-rental tax surcharge of 2 percent would bring in $3.5 million per year. Beginning in 1999, a 5 percent admissions tax at the new ballpark would bring in about $1.3 million a year. Team: Owners would kick in $45 million in cash.