Advertisement

Pinellas County commissioner to discuss tax money for Toronto Blue Jays

 
A plan to renovate Florida Auto Exchange Stadium in Dunedin, the spring training home of the Toronto Blue Jays, calls for Pinellas County to shell out $46.5 million. County commissioners will discuss the idea at a meeting Tuesday.[CHARLIE KAIJO   |   Times]
A plan to renovate Florida Auto Exchange Stadium in Dunedin, the spring training home of the Toronto Blue Jays, calls for Pinellas County to shell out $46.5 million. County commissioners will discuss the idea at a meeting Tuesday.[CHARLIE KAIJO | Times]
Published April 25, 2017

CLEARWATER –– The Pinellas County Commission on Tuesday will discuss the next steps for a plan to help Dunedin upgrade the spring training complex for the Toronto Blue Jays.

The renovation calls for Pinellas County to fund $46.5 million of the $81 million project with money from the Tourist Development Council bed tax, a 6 percent tax allocated to marketing and capital projects.

The team would shoulder about $15.7 million, the state about $13.6 million and the city about $5.6 million.

Any check signing, however, is still months away. More negotiations must take place, and a final plan would return to the commission for a vote.

At its 2 p.m. board meeting, the commission will hold a much broader discussion about requests to spend $85 million from bed-tax dollars for projects, including $26 million for the Clearwater Marine Aquarium; $6 million for the American Craftsmen Museum in St. Petersburg; nearly $5 million for Ruth Eckerd Hall; and another $2.5 million for two sport complexes in Clearwater.

County staffers will present a 58-page report on the projects compiled by Visit St. Pete/Clearwater, the marketing agency for Pinellas County.

As for the Blue Jays, the setup gives the team an opportunity to stay in the city where it has spent every spring since the team's 1977 debut. The Jays are the only team in Major League Baseball history that has never changed its spring training site. The team claims to have an annual impact of about $70 million.

To reach this point, Dunedin officials and the Jays held more than two years of quiet negotiations. The team's contract with Dunedin expires at the end of 2017.

The Blue Jays and city officials are currently negotiating a new license agreement, which includes terms for revenue and expense sharing, according to the 58-page report.

Last year, team president Mark Shapiro called for a "state-of-the-art" facility that could give players the resources they need to "achieve their potential." He said the current facility, Florida Auto Exchange Stadium at 373 Douglas Ave., just isn't cutting it.

Contact Mark Puente at mpuente@tampabay.com or (727) 892-2996. Follow @MarkPuente