Funding to pay off debt on Great American Ball Park and Paul Brown Stadium is expected to be $14 million short next year, so Hamilton County officials will discuss tonight various ways to make up the shortfall.
Funding to pay off debt on Great American Ball Park, the home of the Cincinnati Reds, and Paul Brown Stadium, the home of the Cincinnati Bengals, is expected to be $14 million short next year, so Hamilton County officials will discuss tonight various ways to make up the shortfall.
The facilities are funded by an increase in the county sales tax adopted in 1995. With the economy in the pits, sales-tax revenues are running behind projections; hence the need to find additional revenues to pay off debt.
None of the possibilities under consideration are particularly palatable, and you can expect some justified squawking from taxpayers. One possibility is to raise property taxes to pre-1995 levels (property taxes were lowered then, as part of the sales-tax hike was used to lower property taxes). That one move would generate some $20 million annually, or more than enough to address any shortfalls.
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