Survey indicates residents don’t want to spend taxes on KeyArena

SEATTLE – A telephone survey says an overwhelming majority of the city’s residents would rather see the NBA SuperSonics leave Seattle rather than use tax money to renovate KeyArena.

The survey was conducted by independent pollster Stuart Elway from June 1-5. The overall margin of error was 5 percent.

The survey said some 78 percent of those polled said they were “more inclined (to) let the Sonics leave Seattle” than to pay for renovation with “use taxes.”

Voters were more willing to put their money toward transportation in the same survey, even if it meant substantial tax increases.

When asking about the Sonics, surveyors did not suggest whether the team would leave the state. They did indicate that the Sonics say they need a major renovation that would likely cost $220 million to stay and that the team owners want the money to come from taxes on hotel rooms, restaurant meals and the like.

Leaders of city government said the 5-to-1 opposition did not surprise them.

The Sonics “have been buried in public opinion for so long, and I just think that the public has just had it with subsidizing corporate sports teams,” City Council President Nick Licata told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Seattle Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis said the either/or question tilted the results.

“When you frame it that way, ‘Do you want to pay taxes to build an arena or have them leave Seattle?’ I think that’s a pretty crude way,” Ceis said. “That much ambiguity isn’t going to elicit a very positive response no matter what.”

And team spokeswoman Valerie O’Neil added that the survey question failed to fairly include the potential benefits of an arena overhaul beyond basketball.

“It’s more than just a Sonics/Storm issue,” she said. “It would be more than just the Sonics and (WNBA) Storm benefiting from the investment.”