by Jon Styf
Memphis will be receiving $350 million for its sports facilities in the $56.2 billion Tennessee budget passed by the Senate on Thursday.
The funds are part of $684 million in sports facility improvements planned for the city that include renovations to the FedExForum, home of the Memphis Grizzlies, along with renovations to Liberty Stadium, AutoZone Park and a new soccer stadium.
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland and city leaders came to the state for funding after Tennessee put $500 million toward a new $2.1 billion Tennessee Titans stadium, which will be up for final approval from Metro Nashville’s Council on Tuesday.
Both deals also include state-approved tax captures to pay for renovations and ongoing maintenance at the arenas. Nashville’s proposal has a $3.1 billion tax capture of state and local taxes expected to pay off the city’s $760 million in bonds along with infrastructure and future capital and maintenance costs.
Memphis, meanwhile, asked for a continuation of its sales tax capture at the FedExForum along with the continuation of a county car rental tax to pay for arena bonds through 2059.
The sales tax capture bill, House Bill 1085, was scheduled to be discussed by the Tennessee House on Thursday and the Senate in the near future.
The fiscal note on the bill states it would allow Memphis to keep an estimated $5 million in state sales tax each year through 2059 and, by also extending the deal for Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, will allow Nashville to keep $7 million in estimated sales tax annually for expenses associated with securing current, expanded, or new events at Bridgestone Arena.
The 2% Shelby County car rental tax, extended in Senate Bill 935, sends an estimated $3.4 million annually to the Shelby County Sports Authority to help pay off the bonds. That bill has been approved by the Legislature and is headed to Gov. Bill Lee’s desk.
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Jon Styf is an award-winning editor and reporter of The Center Square who has worked in Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, Florida and Michigan in local newsrooms over the past 20 years, working for Shaw Media, Hearst and several other companies.
Photo “Jim Strickland” by Mayor Jim Strickland. Background Photo “FedExForum” by Ron Cogswell. CC BY 2.0.
I thought I was reading something from Washington when I realized that it was actually our state legislature and so-called governor playing as loose with our state tax dollars as Washington does with the excessive taxes it collects.
Anyone still think that those with an “R” after their name are conservative? I surely do not.
$1.7 Billion to Ford’s electric truck boondoggle and sportsball plus more fuel tax cuts for Fedex, stealing farms for Ford, but we don’t have money for roads (except for Ford on the stolen farmland)?
Fleecing taxpayers. Let these entities fund themselves.