Fayetteville Baseball Committee members expressed concerns at a meeting Tuesday night that a proposed financial agreement with Cumberland County could cost city taxpayers $2.5 million. City staff said they planned on using money from a previous agreement with the county to help construct the baseball stadium.
“When you are continuously changing the terms of the agreement, that’s just not a good partner,” City Councilman Jim Arp said regarding the county.
The baseball stadium where a Houston Astros minor league team will play is estimated to cost the city $33 million. Baseball stadium construction will be paid for through limited-obligation bonds that the city has not applied for yet, city staff said.
In the meantime, the city is using general funds for pre-construction and early construction costs.
“To date, $1.8 million of stadium costs have been incurred,” city spokesman Kevin Arata wrote in an email Monday. “General funds of the city are temporarily being used to cash-flow these pre-construction and early construction costs with the intent for these funds to be reimbursed with proceeds of the bond sale.”
Charlie Lewis, with project general contractor Barton Malow, said the company is almost done creating a temporary fence around the project site. Lewis said that the concrete work on the project will begin in March and the steel work will begin in May. The general public will begin to really see the outline of the new stadium building in May when the steel beams go up. He said the stadium is on track to open in 2019 as planned.
After receiving the update, the Baseball Committee discussed two proposed agreements with the county.
On Friday, Cumberland County Board of Commissioners Chairman Larry Lancaster sent Fayetteville Mayor Mitch Colvin agreement drafts related to the funding of the baseball stadium and the Franklin Street parking garage that was finished in 2012.
Hewett said city staff had hoped to use money from that agreement, which was signed in 2007, to help fund the new baseball stadium.
In 2016, county leaders verbally agreed to help the city pay more than $3 million toward the minor league baseball stadium.
That amount is based off of estimated increases in property revenue that will be generated by $65 million in private investment surrounding the stadium. Hewett said the agreement regarding the baseball stadium remained similar to a previous draft sent by the county to the city.
However, he told the Baseball Committee that the county commissioners had changed the other interlocal agreement so that the city will lose $2.5 million - money it had hoped to use for the stadium.
Hewett said the city and county signed an agreement that said the county would help the city pay all of its debt service for the Franklin Street parking deck that was finished in 2012.
The new agreement presented to the Baseball Committee by the county proposed that the county stop helping the city pay for the Franklin Street parking deck debt service in 2025.
“If the agreement is ended in 2025, the city, based on our projections, we will have given up $2.5 million that we had anticipated getting from the county to pay for that parking deck that has already been constructed,” Hewett said. “We had been anticipating the repayment of the parking deck, that money over there, would help fund other projects in the city."
Hewett told the Baseball Committee that the two agreements will likely be brought up by the Local Government Commission, which operates under the North Carolina Department of the State Treasurer and must approve the limited-obligation bonds. The city intends on sending the application for the bond in to the state in March.
“We are going to be going to the LGC (Local Government Commission) and they are going to be asking us how are you going to pay for this,” Hewett said.
City Councilman Larry Wright expressed concerns about the county’s new proposal.
“They’ve changed too many times,” Wright said. “They are always adding something.”
He asked the city staff whether the city should consider financing the baseball stadium without the county’s help.
“Is there any value in us doing a partnership with the county?” Wright asked.
Arp shared Wright’s concerns about the county’s changing agreements.
“I just grew up in a culture where when you say this is what you’re going to do, that’s what you’re going to do,” Arp said.
City Councilman Bill Crisp said he felt the city should try again to negotiate with the county.
“I do think, Mr. Mayor, we need to try to go back with some kind of amended proposal to show good faith before we do what Councilman Wright said we may have to do,” Crisp said.
Lancaster expressed surprise that the Baseball Committee felt the proposed agreement had changed.
“I’m sorry to have heard that,” Lancaster said. “I think as chairman of the commissioners, I am personally trying to work as hard as I can to make sure any agreement with the city is fair.”
Lancaster said he and Colvin are working closely together to disprove the public’s perception that the city and county cannot work together. They spoke late Tuesday night about the agreements and will have their staffs discuss the proposals early Wednesday.
“We want to be good stewards. We want to be good partners. I’m optimistic we can work all of this out,” Lancaster said. “I would like this to be a good, collaborative effort on both sides.”
Staff writer Monica Vendituoli can be reached at mvendituoli@fayobserver.com or 486-3596.