The mayor of Phoenix is urging Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs not to sign a bill to fund improvements to Chase Field using tax dollars.
The proposal moving through the state Legislature would allow the county district which owns Chase Field to gather the majority of sales taxes collected at the stadium on things like concessions and tickets, along with income tax on players and employees.
That money would be funneled into a fund and used for improvement projects like updating the stadium's air conditioning. But opponents like Mayor Kate Gallego argue it's wrong to use hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to subsidize a particular sports team.
In a letter to Hobbs, Gallego called the bill a “raw deal for taxpayers" and a “major league boondoggle.”
The stadium needs an estimated $500 million worth of repairs. The bill is supposed to cover about half that cost. But Gallego estimated that the bill will cost more than $825 million over the course of 30 years and it doesn’t have a cap.
She also wrote that the bill doesn’t require the team to use the tax money on renovations, even though that’s its intention.
Gallego advocates for keeping the team in Phoenix without using tax money which would otherwise go to the city’s general fund.
The bill passed out of the state House of Representatives with some bipartisan support, but hasn’t gone through the Senate yet.
Hobbs hasn’t said yet whether she’ll sign the bill into law if it makes it to her desk.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The story has been updated to correct the amount Gallego estimated the bill will cost over the course of 30 years.
