Our View: Wrong time to ask residents to fund luxury items

The University of Washington has found a powerful friend to carry the ball for it on a proposed football stadium renovation. State Sen. Margarita Prentice, chairwoman of the budget committee, was the prime sponsor of a bill last session that would raise money for the project. The bill didn’t pass, but the issue is still alive.

This isn’t Prentice’s first time foraging for public money to assist sports teams. She was a huge Seattle Sonics fan and worked hard to shake money loose to keep the team from moving. In her world, good times are important. As she told the Seattle Weekly last year, “I want my community to have a whole lot of fun.”

Everybody likes fun, but the question of when to use public money to pursue it is a serious one. If her bill were to pass, the largest impact would be in King County. Eastern Washington residents would be affected when they stayed in hotels, ate in a restaurants and rented cars.

The bill would “repurpose” a sales tax assessment on those services. The levy has been used to pay off construction bonds for Qwest Field, Safeco Field and the old Kingdome. Those payments are coming to an end, so the tax is set to expire. Prentice’s bill would keep it going, with $150 million flowing to stadium renovation. The university would raise another $150 million privately. The sales tax on stadium-related construction would be forgiven for five years.

Prentice says she is motivated by safety concerns, but the project includes luxury items such as a new sound system, a club room and premium seating areas. Those are the kinds of amenities being added to stadiums across the country as schools try to keep their athletic programs competitive. Washington State University and the University of Oregon have accomplished that with private funding. Oregon State University tapped a corporate sponsor (Reser) to help.

Other interests are vying for a chance to redirect that revenue, including a group that wants it for affordable housing. Or maybe the businesses that have been saddled with handing their customers higher bills could get the break they were promised when the sunset clause was affixed.

Legislators are heading into a difficult budget year, with a projected deficit of $2.7 billion. Budgeting challenges abound. We don’t want to tell King County how to tax and spend, but the Senate’s budget chairwoman ought to seriously consider the political ramifications if the Legislature chooses to finance more fun in tough times.