With the strong backing of a collection of business and labor leaders, the Roberts Stadium Advisory Board endorsed a plan Tuesday to build an 11,000-seat arena at the D-Patrick Ford property.
Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel said the endorsement will be taken to the City Council for a vote.
If approved there, the initial stages of design work will begin and construction could start as soon as summer 2009. Without any significant delays, the arena could be ready to replace Roberts Stadium by summer 2011.
Advisory Board member Steve Bagbey, a former City Council member who started the arena debate in August 2005 when he questioned the prudence of pumping $32 million into Roberts Stadium to renovate the 52-year-old facility, closed the meeting with a plea to neighboring counties, asking for their financial support.
"What is good for Vanderburgh County should also be good for the doughnut ... " he said.
Bagbey said he hoped the owners of D-Patrick Ford would be good corporate partners to the city. According to the Vanderburgh County assessor's office, the property the city wants to buy has a total assessed value of $2.7 million, a small chunk of the total cost of the project, estimated between $117 million and $127 million.
"Let's go forward, and let's have a big win for the city of Evansville," he said.
Bagbey's enthusiasm was matched by several labor, tourism and business leaders who spoke before him.
Process lauded
Ed Hafer, president of the Evansville Regional Business Committee, applauded the board for the 18-month process of debating the future of Roberts Stadium and studying the feasibility of a Downtown arena.
"It's been a steady process step by step, from looking at Roberts Stadium to getting where we are tonight," Hafer said. "It's been a public process, and I think that's very important. You've listened to people, and you've incorporated their ideas."
The funding plan, which will use tax increment financing dollars, casino revenues and food and beverage taxes, "is really very simple, conservative and doable," Hafer said.
But not everyone agreed.
"There's no question that this project looks good because there's been such a shallow examination of the costs," said Mary Blanc of Evansville.
Bob Swintz, a CPA for London Witte, Evansville's financial consultant for the arena, said the three revenue sources he has identified are viable.
"For every $1 of debt service, we've identified $1.50 of revenue," Swintz said.
Identifying that excess coverage was necessary to make the bonds attractive to investors and to guarantee that the city still will have enough riverboat revenue and TIF funds for other uses.
Riverboat revenue traditionally has been spent on things such as police and fire vehicles.
It is to be used to pay bonds for the construction of two city pools. TIF revenue, tax money gained through increases in assessed property values within the district development, are distributed through the Redevelopment Commission to encourage economic development.
The third source, the food and beverage tax, currently is being used to pay off bonds sold for the renovation of The Centre.
Those bonds expire in 2018, and state legislators would have to approve a change in the use of the tax to use it for an arena. Weinzapfel said he has talked to state officials about making a change.
Revenue sources
What happens if one of those sources doesn't produce as much revenue as projected, asked Rodney Witherspoon, a member of the Vanderburgh County Taxpayers Association. He asked Swintz if property tax revenue would be used.
"Bottom line, is the public going to pick up the tab, and can you be up front with us?" Witherspoon asked.
Swintz said there are "no plans in place" to use property taxes to pay for the arena. If one of the revenue sources comes up short, other sources such as the innkeepers tax could be tapped to pay the debt. Swintz has said that 75 percent of the project cost will be funded through long-term debt, and 25 percent will be funded through cash on hand.
The design and building of the arena will create a temporary boon for construction jobs in Evansville, and those who expect to have a stake in the bidding process were represented at the meeting.
Two people, K.C. Jain of Americas Engineers Inc. and Carolyn Walters of C.C. Boone & Co. Inc. asked whether minority and women contractors would be included in the massive public works project.
Some of those companies may not have as much experience as larger, more established contractors in town, Jain said, but that doesn't mean they're not as qualified.
"Every company starts somewhere," Jain said. "They grow because they have contracts."