The bill is in the legislature's Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee.
The city of Hartford wants state tax dollars to help pay back the loans on its new $60 million minor league baseball stadium built for the team that's now in New Britain, and there's a measure at the capitol to get it done. But not everyone is convinced it's a good idea.
If the law stays the way it is, any tickets sold at the new stadium would include a markup called the state's admissions tax. And that money would go to the state. But the city wants that money, because it needs $4.2 million a year to pay off its stadium debt.
Thomas Deller is the city's development director. He said the tax could generate $426,000. I asked him why state taxpayers should subsidize the city-funded stadium.
"Taxpayers aren't subsidizing the stadium," Deller said. "That revenue is revenue that is being paid by people who are going to the ballpark."
But some don't like the plan, like State Sen. Terry Gerratana. She's a Democrat from New Britain, the city she said had its baseball team "poached" by Hartford officials. Her constituents are still pretty steamed.
"At this time, certainly I would vote 'no' on the legislation," Gerratana said. "It's clear to me, from what my constituents have said in New Britain, that they don't want to see any tax dollars going into Hartford for any reason regarding the expansion and development of the stadium, or in helping the transition, if you will, of the team from New Britain to Hartford."
Vincent Candelora is a deputy Republican leader in the House. He said using state tax dollars for a baseball stadium doesn't make sense -- especially when the state is also cutting safety net funding for things like graveside services for veterans, autism services, and nursing homes.
"To cherry-pick one particular economic development project and say we're going to allocate state dollars for a baseball park where the owners chose to voluntarily move it from one city to another just isn't good policy right now," Candelora said.
The bill is in the legislature's Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee. Its co-chair is Hartford's State Sen. John Fonfara. It also includes waiving the tax entirely for Atlantic League baseball games at a Bridgeport ballpark. Bridgeport's Webster Bank Arena is already exempt.
The state Department of Revenue Services said that a litany of municipally-owned facilities were once exempt from the tax. But that exemption was eliminated buy a public act in 2011. In 2014, lawmakers exempted the XL Center and the Webster Bank Arena.
