Liars Trying To Use Renewed CIT Funds for a New Rays Stadium

Lies, Lies, Lies and More Lies!

Hillsborough County voters and taxpayers are facing a crisis of lies regarding the use of CIT funds for a new stadium.

The chicken or the egg??? Did the Rays approach Hillsborough County or did Commissioner Ken Hagan approach the Rays about using funds from the 15 year CIT (Community Investment Tax) renewal for a new Rays stadium?

A good bet it was a mutual approach. The Rays want a new stadium, Ken Hagan wants a new stadium and they both want taxpayers to subsidize it. 

Hagan's been so hell-bent on a new stadium that he has refused to honor the intent of term limits in the Hillsborough County Charter. For 24 too long years, Hagan used a loophole to keep leap frogging back and forth between single district and countywide commission seats to keep pursuing a new Rays stadium....even though he should have been term limited years ago.  

There is a major problem with the County trying to use the new CIT tax dollars for a new Rays stadium and a land grab that enriches the Rays new Billionaire owners. 

Intent.

The voters were told in 2024, the renewed CIT would NOT be used for a new sports stadium. The renewed tax would be used for much needed infrastructure and public safety in the growing county. 

Here's the headline from a Tampa Bay Business Journal in April 2024 when the county commissioner were discussing placing the CIT renewal sales tax on the 2024 ballot.

Commissioner Harry Cohen claims in a (directly to the clip) podcast in July 2025 that funding for a new Rays stadium would have to come from somewhere other than from the CIT because "to his knowledge" the CIT tax dollars is NOT permitted to be used for a new Rays stadium. Harry Cohen discusses the stadium at about 1:12 in full podcast:

At the April 17, 2024 BOCC public hearing when the commissioners voted to put the 15 year CIT renewal tax on the 2024 ballot, Commissioner Wostal laid down a line in the sand that the CIT dollars would NOT be used for a new sports stadium. From the public hearing transcript (page 128, also can find on the County's website) Ken Hagan stated:

"I COMPLETELY SUPPORTED ELIMINATING A COMMUNITY STADIUM OR STADIUMS BEING BUILT WITH THE TAX, TOTALLY FINE WITH THAT."

Below was also stated at the 4/17 Public Hearing (page 132 of transcript):

JOSHUA WOSTAL: BUT I THINK THAT MY POINT WAS MADE TO THE PUBLIC.

I WILL MOVE TO AMEND THE ORDINANCE TO PROHIBIT THE USE OF CIT FUNDS FOR NEW PROFESSIONAL SPORTS FACILITIES.

PAT KEMP: SECOND.

KEN HAGAN: I CAN LIVE WITH THAT.

COMMISSIONER CAMERON CEPEDA.

DONNA CAMERON CEPEDA: YES, I'M GOING TO SUPPORT THAT MOTION,  

GWEN MYERS:  THANK YOU, COMMISSIONER WOSTAL, FOR MAKING THAT MOTION BECAUSE I DO AGREE WITH YOUR MOTION.

In April 2024, a Major Majority of Hillsborough County commissioners publicly stated they would NOT use CIT funds for a new sports stadium.  

The taxpayers are already on the hook to maintain Raymond James, Steinbrenner Field and the hockey Arena, apparently into infinity. Therefore, the commissioners left in the ballot language the use of CIT dollars for "public facilities" but only to maintain those existing assets. 

The commissioners specifically REMOVED using the CIT renewal funds for a Community Stadium that was specified in the 1996 CIT ballot language. The intent, publicly stated by the commissioners who voted at the public hearing to place the CIT tax referendum on the ballot was to NOT use CIT for any new sports stadiums.

However, beginning in February 2026, Hagan began claiming the new Rays stadium is not feasible without CIT funding. Hagan added the item below to the February 4th BOCC meeting agenda. The agenda item indicates it is an update on Rays stadium discussions, an update only with no Board action requested by Hagan. 

 

The first thing Hagan stated when he began his so-called "update" at the 2/4 meeting was that he was going to place a motion on the floor. Hagan lied to the public and his peer commissioners that he was not requesting board action on this agenda item. 

That is horrible governance. It is an insult to the public who may have weighed in at the meeting if they knew Board action was the intent of the item and not just an update.

Hagan's motion was "to continue the County’s discussions with the Tampa Bay Rays in an effort to determine if a framework and partnership can be agreed upon and, if so, staff is to bring that back to the Board for consideration".  

The commissioners knew Hagan had already claimed the CIT funds were "critical" for funding the new stadium. The motion passed with Harry Cohen and Gwen Myers apparently having amnesia that they previously stated the CIT would NOT be used for a new sports stadium. 

Below is what Hillsborough County included in their request for the OPPAGA audit required by the State before the referendum could actually be placed on the November 2024 ballot. NOWHERE does the County tell the state auditor that an overwhelming significant amount of the CIT funds would be used to fund a new sports stadium. 

Did the County lie to the State too? 

County staff presented at the February 14, 2024 BOCC workshop an overview of the original CIT spending and suggestions for where a CIT renewal tax could be spent. Staff called out the growing county increases the need for more infrastructure and never mentioned a need or want for new sports stadiums.

Suddenly Commissioner Meyers rams, at the last minute on 3/31 at 5:26PM, the following agenda item to the 4/1 BOCC meeting that started at 9am. The agenda item requests the County Attorney to provide legal guidance for whether CIT funds can be used to fund new sports stadiums. (Appropriate agenda item for April Fool's day - the joke being on the taxpayers of course!) Who got Meyers to do this? 

The County Attorney claims she must go to OUTSIDE counsel for legal guidance costing taxpayers even more money for Hagan's hell-bent pursuit.  Perhaps after the unconstitutional All for Transportation sales tax scam, she doesn't want to touch the CIT renewal funding a new stadium issue herself with a 10 foot pole. 

The fact is that Hillsborough County and the city of Tampa have already publicly made proposed project lists for where the renewed CIT funds would be spent. 

This is what voters were told the funds would be used for. NOWHERE in the CIT renewal proposed funding list is a new sports stadium.

NOWHERE in the Chamber of Commerce's support for the CIT renewal included a new sports stadium. They too emphasized the County's growing needs for infrastructure and public safety.

WFLA reported that a recent survey regarding a new Rays stadium reflected 64% surveyed wanted NO public funding be used and 85% surveyed want the voters to have a vote on it. 

In 2024, the CIT renewal sales tax referendum only passed 51.57- 48.43.

It's a good wager that if voters had been told the renewed CIT funds could/would fund a new Rays stadium, it would have been soundly defeated.

The county commissioners, Mayor Castor and the Tampa city council members knew that.

Now Hagan is stressing urgency to ram the Rays stadium CIT funding down taxpayer's throats because "time is of the essence" to meet the Rays targeted deadline.

Someone(s) including staff and elected officials are getting caught lying big time to voters and taxpayers....just like they did with the All for Transportation transit tax boondoggle. We know how that costly debacle turned out.

Trying to steal CIT funds from infrastructure and public safety to hand to Billionaires has ruined the integrity of elected officials and County staff.

Hillsborough County must stop their attempt to use CIT funds for a new Rays stadium. 

Otherwise, the County risks costly legal challenges.

And the Liars who perpetrated such theft must be Fired!