Ramsey County’s big push to get the Vikings stadium in Arden Hills by offering to levy an extra county-wide half-cent sales tax doesn’t sit well with one top county official: Ramsey County Board Chair Victoria Reinhardt.
She represents parts of the county east of the proposed stadium on the old Army ammunition-manufacturing site.
“Inappropriate” is the word Reinhardt used in an interview last night to describe the plan to fund part of the stadium deal with a Ramsey County-only sales tax increase.
And she’s unhappy to see all the time and energy going into the stadium issue at the Legislature while the Republican majorities are passing bills that would cut programs for the poor, disabled and elderly.
“The biggest issue at the Legislature isn’t the stadium,” she said.
She said she’s fine with the location for a stadium, because the 430-acre site has been unused for decades and development would be good for the county tax base and speed up the necessary enviromental clean-up.
Just don’t foist more taxes onto the good people of the county, she says.
“User fees make sense,” she said. And those are already being proposed for the state’s $300 million contribution to the stadium deal.
“Most people I talk to object to how it’s funded [with the sales tax],” she said.
Reinhardt said she voted yes in February for a study of financial and legal factors in using the site for a stadium, as well as preparing a site plan. “I wanted the answers, before I made up my mind,” she said.
Now she knows: “My conclusion, is the primary benefits of the stadium would go to the team, the state and the region.”
Not enough for Ramsey County, she said, certainly not enough to justify the county’s financial investment. The information from the study, though, will be valuable for future efforts to develop the site, she said.
Commissioners Tony Bennett and Rafael Ortega have taking the pro-stadium lead on the county board. They believe they have the four necessary votes to keep the deal alive, if it survives the Legislature and comes back to the board. (One of the provisions of the deal currently on the table is that the county-wide sales tax increase NOT be subject to a public referendum.)
Reinhardt said she’s very worried that all the stadium talk is distracting people from the problems brewing at the Capitol.
“All the cuts they’re talking about would have a huge impact on the most vulnerable: children, the disabled and seniors,” she said. “And the proposed cuts to the Metropolitan Council and transit would have a big impact. All these dollars being cut will be devastating to a lot of folks.”
