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M’S Park Plan Moves Forward

Associated Press

The Metropolitan King County Council on Monday voted 8-5 to authorize the sale of $336 million in bonds to build a new Seattle Mariners ballpark and parking garage.

The council heard nearly 4 hours of public testimony before voting.

“This should be a simple, straight-forward issue. The revenue is sufficient to retire the bonds, we pledged to do this, we need to move forward and do it,” said Councilman Chris Vance, chairman of the budget committee.

But Councilwoman Maggi Fimia, one of the dissenting votes, questioned the wisdom of the proposal.

“There’s nothing in the last 20 years that has given me the indication that we make prudent fiscal decisions when it comes to baseball and football,” she said.

In issuing the bonds, the county in effect issues IOUs to investors, who during 20 years would collect principal and interest, funded by miscellaneous taxes.

The $336 million will be used by the Public Facilities District to build a 45,000-seat, retractable-roof stadium and a 1,500-car garage just south of the Kingdome, where the Mariners now play.

Many members of the audience opposed the decision to issue the bonds without a public vote.

Counting all sources, the project has estimated funding of $414 million, although the official budget remains $384.5 million for both the ballpark and garage.

The latest figure of available funding grew from $405 million last week after the county’s bond underwriters began crunching numbers and realized the county would earn more interest during the collection of bond and tax money.

Council approval means all but one of the team owners’ demands have been met.

Mayor Norm Rice hoped to have a proposal by today under which the city and the Mariners would agree on expenses for cleanup, police and traffic on game days. The team has said it isn’t responsible for such costs.

Also Monday, the County Council voted to lend $8.1 million to the Public Facilities District so it can proceed with land acquisition for the stadium and approved a Kingdome lease with the M’s through 1999.