This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2007, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon has signed an agreement with the state that adds some grease to the wheels on the already-rolling, public-funding deal for Real Salt Lake's soccer stadium in Sandy.
Under terms of the document - he signed it Thursday; it will go before the County Council on Tuesday - the county agrees to levy its 4.25 percent transient-room tax for at least 20 more years.
Though legislation passed in February - after Corroon had rejected a similar stadium deal - the Governor's Office of Economic Development (GOED) will skim 15 percent off the top, collecting $35 million for the Sandy stadium.
The agreement is a bare-bones document compared to an earlier version.
Corroon worried that a previous draft, to which Sandy City was a party, left the door open for public money to be spent on commercial development planned around the stadium - such as land for a hotel and broadcast studio.
The language included things that "I wasn't comfortable with," Corroon said Friday. "Some of the things we rejected in the past [were part of the earlier version]. We didn't want to be part of any agreement that we already said we wouldn't be a party to."
But the county has no problem promising to continue levying the tax; it wouldn't consider doing otherwise, Corroon said. The revenue goes toward a number of tourism, recreation and cultural projects.
The county's guarantee allows Sandy's Redevelopment Agency, which is handling the funds, to issue bonds for the $35 million at a lower interest rate with less expensive insurance but wasn't required for the funding to move forward.
"It's just the next step for us in the process," said Jason Perry, GOED's executive director, adding that the state "is not building a hotel" for RSL. He said the stadium money will be spent according to what is required by state law.
Sandy also must complete a development agreement with RSL, possibly later this month, that holds RSL to terms promised to the state, including providing $7.5 million for Salt Lake City's youth sports complex and establishing a soccer academy in Utah.
The southeast Salt Lake Valley city expects to issue the $35 million in bonds in July.
Sandy will include its own conditions in the agreement, which could require that RSL provide 2,000 parking stalls on-site and complete an off-site parking-management plan. Sandy has committed an additional $10 million of the increased property taxes collected at the stadium site, 9256 S. State St., toward the $110 million project.
RSL expects to play its first game in the stadium in fall 2008.