Tennis stadium support cools

By James Thorner
Copyright 2001 Times Publishing Company
Article date: August 20, 2001
 

WESLEY CHAPEL- Sitting atop a nearly $6 million pile of tax money earmarked for tourist development, Pasco County commissioners have spent the past three months listening to a mantra from Tampa Olympics boosters, tennis bigwigs and business recruiters:

Build a Wesley Chapel tennis stadium. Build it big. Build it soon. Build it fast.

But a majority of county commissioners have begun raising another possibility: Build it not at all. Said commission Chairman Steve Simon, whose earlier comments placed him among the most avid tennis stadium proponents: "No-build is always an option. This isn't life-saving surgery. This is elective surgery."

The last time Simon used the "elective surgery" analogy was in June to vote against raising $20-million in taxes to build new parks.

Said Commissioner Ann Hildebrand, a self-confessed women's tennis fan: "Is there a sense of urgency? I don't think so."

And Commissioner Pat Mulieri: "I think the important thing for me is the right procedures are followed and we just don't jump the gun."

Their skepticism doesn't mean that construction of a $6-million to $10-million tennis stadium - the goal of Saddlebrook Resort owner Tom Dempsey - is doomed.

But there's no denying that recent information, including questions about whether a 5,000- to 8,000-seat stadium would run a yearly deficit, has shifted the tone toward caution.

Even Tampa 2012, the group trying to lure the 2012 Summer Olympics to Central Florida, has relaxed the pressure. Tampa 2012 chose Wesley Chapel, home to Saddlebrook's popular tennis academy, as its Olympic tennis venue. Managing director Jose Rodriguez said Tampa 2012 prefers that Pasco start building a stadium by next year. But he said that with the host city selection still four years away, the county has some leeway.

"It's our hope that most things would be wrapped up by 2005, when the International Olympic Committee makes its decision," Rodriguez said.

By the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, Pasco expects to have accumulated $5.7 million in its "Bricks and Mortar Fund."

That's the portion of the county's yearly hotel tax intake squirreled away for a future stadium, amphitheater or any other tourism-promoting project.

Although she admits that some are "champing at the bit to get those dollars spent," Hildebrand has raised the possibility of letting the nest egg grow a few more years. It's an idea Mulieri also agrees is worth considering.

There might be solid financial reasons to do that.

According to the county's budget office, the $5.7 million should grow by $400,000 next year, not counting the nearly $300,000 in annual interest earned on the account.

Among the proposals for spending the tourist money, a consultant's study recently showed that tennis seems to be the soundest financially. But absent assurances the complex won't become a money drain, Hildebrand said she would hold off spending the tourist tax millions.

"I'm not prepared to vote," Hildebrand said. "I just need to see more of what we're doing."

Some of the strongest words of support for a stadium come from Commissioner Pete Altman.

Two months ago, Altman insisted he would support a stadium only if it were financially self-supporting.

Saddlebrook's promise to manage the complex and cover its operating losses seemed to offer those assurances.

"We need an agreement with Saddlebrook . . . to hold the county government harmless to the debt," Altman said in June.

But Dempsey recently clarified what he meant by "covering operating losses," and it wasn't good news for county taxpayers.

Dempsey's guarantee doesn't include hundreds of thousands of dollars the county might have to spend to lure major tennis tournaments to the stadium.

That disclosure didn't ruffle Altman's confidence in the stadium. He said self-sufficiency is no longer his goal, that he has seen "nothing to raise additional caution flags."

"I think the break-even thing is an impossible condition. . . . It's unrealistic to think that's going to happen," he said. "We'll have to look at the best deal that can be made by the consultant, the county attorney and Saddlebrook, and then decide."

Simon, too, admits the earlier hopes for self-sufficiency might be dwindling. But that fact appears to have dampened, rather than heightened, his enthusiasm for a stadium.

Dempsey, who declined to speak to the media until he gets a stadium commitment from the commissioners, is pressing Pasco to vote for his project as early as this month.

Last week, the county's Tourist Development Council, chaired by Mulieri, recommended the commissioners hire consultanting firm KPMG to weigh the costs and benefits not just of a tennis stadium, but also of a music amphitheater.

The recommendation will go to the commissioners sometime in the next couple of weeks, but  Simon said he isn't likely to spring to any quick decisions.

"You cannot use the word "urgent' in this decision. It's not," Simon said. "Is the timing interesting with the Olympics and all that? Oh, yeah. But you can't count on that. This thing has to stand alone."
 

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