Voter Betrayal, Payoffs & Massive Taxpayer Debt So Rays Can Get "Their" Stadium Funding Upfront and FIRST

Game on! 

Hillsborough County commissioners set to vote whether to approve the latest Rays "Memorandum of Demand" at the May 20th BOCC meeting.

Fearful of a lawsuit, semantics is now being used by Hillsborough County and city of Tampa to defend their use of CIT funds for a Rays stadium. 

As we reported here, Ken Hagan and majority of county commissioners told voters in 2024 that the CIT renewal funds would NOT be used to fund any NEW Stadium. They specifically removed "Community Stadium" from the referendum ballot language.

Below is from the February 2024 Hillsborough County CIT Workshop:

According to the latest "Memorandum of Demand" from the Rays, 

The CIT Contribution Amount may only be spent on Public Use Areas, and only if each of the County’s and City’s respective CIT project list, is amended, following respective public hearings, to include the New Ballpark Project as a “public facility”. 

In other words, the Rays demand "they" get "their" infrastructure UPFRONT and FIRST.

The 2024 CIT renewal ballot language included no wording in it to fund anything for any NEW stadium.  Hillsborough County and city of Tampa provided voters with a list of projects the CIT renewal tax would fund before the election. Those lists included NO funding related to any new Rays Stadium to gain voter support. The County and city of Tampa knew voters would reject using CIT to fund anything related to a New Rays Stadium.

Now they are using word games to subvert the intent of the voters they misled in 2024. 

While the "Rays infrastructure" gets priority with YOUR CIT funds, projects such as the Lithia Pinecrest and CR29 intersection have been delayed. This project, delayed for years, will not complete until at least 2033 years after the Rays have gotten "their" infrastructure projects completed. 

Many CIT projects could be at risk if CIT revenues fall and/or bondholders must be paid first.  

Thanks to Commissioner Wostal for documenting a comparison of changes made since the Rays April 9th "Memorandum of Demand" he addressed to Hillsborough County Taxpayers. It is not a pretty picture for taxpayers.

• If CIT revenues do not meet projections, there is NO Rays-secured shortfall backstop - aka the County must rob Peter (other projects) to pay Paul (the Rays).
• Rays Demand an additional $103M of County funds in addition to the CIT, CRA (your property tax revenue used to enrich the Rays owners) and Tourist tax funds.
• There is NO Documented Revenue Source for where the funds will come from
• Wostal indicates the additional $103M will likely come from the County's Property Tax General Fund that are the most flexible funds that only requires a simple commission majority vote, no public hearing needed.
• Bonding of the Tourist Tax only will cost taxpayers between $240 MILLION  and $280 MILLION in interest payments.
• Bonding of the Tourist Tax and CIT will cost taxpayers between $500 MILLION and $600 MILLION in interest payments.
• Total Interest payments forced on Taxpayers could be approximately $1.55 BILLION not including Bond Issuance Costs and Pre-Pricing Rate-Rise Risk Costs.
• Public Funding Cap does NOT include bond and risk costs to the Taxpayers.
• Rays get credited back on a dollar-for-dollar basis, future increased property tax revenues that exceed scheduled debt service for the CRA Bonds.
• Rays will retain ALL revenue from tickets, suites, sponsorships, concessions, special events, merchandise, broadcasting rights, royalties, licensing fees, concession fees, non-public parking and ALL naming rights revenue.

Where is the Rays Upfront CIT funds coming from if the County does not Bond out that revenue stream? Will they raid the County Reserves or raid more of your Property Tax Revenues?

Beware of the legal jargon use of the word "OR" instead of "AND" when the Rays "Memorandum of Demand" claims:

Funding from the CIT hereunder shall be implemented so as not to impact any public funds allocated for public infrastructure improvements or public safety within the region, including fire protection, law enforcement and emergency medical services. Using the word "OR" means either one but not both. Using the word "AND" means to include both. The County and city of Tampa are trying to skirt a lawsuit by including this claim. However, the voters were told BOTH much needed backlogged infrastructure AND public safety would be funded by the 2024 CIT Renewal.  It appears this claim is to sway (perhaps Payoff??) Commissioner Chris Boles who spent 28 years as a Hillsborough County firefighter and was an Officer and Spokesperson for the County's Firefighter's Union. Every single First Responder's Organization in Hillsborough County, including the Firefighter's Union, the Police Benevolent Association and Sheriff Chronister endorsed Boles in 2024. They were all a large part of his donor base. We have a good idea where he will land if having to choose between public safety OR infrastructure funding.   Boles 2024 campaign website states: It’s more important now than ever to stop wasteful spending and unnecessary costs in Hillsborough County’s budget. I am committed to focusing on the essential core functions of government: ensuring adequate public safety, enhancing our roadways, developing infrastructure to support sustainable growth, and maintaining fiscal responsibility with taxpayer funds. We need to bring critical thinking and common sense back to our government,” Boles continues. We will find out on the 20th whether Boles thinks spending a couple Billion dollars of tax dollars and interest for a new Rays stadium is a "core function of government". We'll find out if he thinks it is fiscally responsible for taxpayers to fund the Rays sketchy stadium subsidy deal and incur massive debt for decades. And we'll find out if he likes the use of the word "Or". The Rays have never specified where their own financing is coming from that begs the question whether they actually have a financing scheme. Their latest "Memorandum of Demand" states the Rays will give public funders access to their own financing information prior to "commitment of public funds". This is absurd! Could you even apply for a mortgage and not provide the mortgage company with your income information?  Perhaps this is the Rays "Give Us Your Tax Dollars Upfront and we'll run to the Bank/Investors and get our financing" moment. The Rays want it all - Your CIT, your Tourist Taxes and your Property Taxes all Upfront and loaded with taxpayer debt. If one is actually critically thinking about the Rays "Memorandum of Demand", as Commissioner Boles claims he will do, they would JUST SAY NO!  If the County and the City approves the Rays sketchy stadium subsidy scheme, they will: Break their promises to the voters Put a massive debt repayment burden on taxpayers Be ramming thru the Ray's demands to meet the Rays timeline using a process of backroom dealing and too little transparency Instead of approving the Rays Risky Business, the commissioners should be calling Three Strikes Rays and you are Out!  And remember INTENT means something!

Rays Fret But Sketchy Stadium Subsidies Hammer Taxpayers With Massive Debt

The fiscal deception keeps looming as the Rays threaten to look at "alternatives" if Hillsborough County refuses their funding demands for a new stadium.

The irresponsibility of subsidizing the Rays Billionaires is enormous. Taxpayers will get sucker punched at the Local, State and Federal levels and hammered with massive amounts of debt. 

                                The Rays Proposal To Fund New Stadium                                                          Rays get your $ NOW, Taxpayers Get Debt For Decades                                   

The Rays want your local CIT funds, the local Stadium CRA property tax funds and your federal HUD money - all to go into their coffers. They want your government owned land and for you as a State taxpayer to pay to relocate HCC.

The Rays get massive amounts of your tax dollars upfront and You the Taxpayer gets massive amounts of DEBT for decades. 

DEBT IS SUNK COSTS!

The Stadium fiscal egregiousness continues. 

At the February 24, 2024 CIT Workshop, Hillsborough County staff presented revenue projections of a renewed CIT tax. The County projected a first year revenue baseline of $200 MILLION with a growth rate of 3% per year over the term of the renewal tax.

However, in 2024 sales tax was still being collected on commercial leases. 

Last year the State legislature totally eliminated sales tax on commercial leases. That alone reduces the original projected baseline of a renewed CIT tax by at least 8-9%, from $200M to approximately $184M. 

Suddenly when the District Rays county commissioner Ken Hagan threw an agenda item on at the last minute for the 2/4/2026 BOCC meeting, Hagan began claiming there was going to be "Surplus" CIT revenue. Hagan began pushing that a CIT "Surplus", an amount over the "initial" (but incorrect) $200M revenue forecast, could fund the Rays stadium.

Problem is there is NO surplus. 

The baseline revenue's been reduced. Even with a higher growth rate of 3.7% (the Rays wanted 4%), the CIT revenue expected to be collected is already allocated. No such "Surplus" claim had ever been made before because such claim is vaporware.

Apparently, Hagan and/or the County either failed to inform the Rays of the revenue projection reduction, or they did and the Rays ignored it. The Rays continue using the inflated revenue baseline in their sales pitch.

No one gave Ken Hagan the authority to start claiming there was a CIT "Surplus".  Hagan has zero authority to tell the Rays there are "Surplus" CIT funds available for a new Stadium.

The County admitted at the 4/16/2026 CIT Workshop that CIT revenues have declined.

Before elimination of sales tax on commercial leases, CIT revenues in FY2025 were less than FY2024.

FY2026 CIT revenues are less than during same time FY2025. And the FY2026 decline is greater than the 8-9% from the commercial lease sales tax elimination.

Sales tax are most vulnerable to economic downturns. Massive debt is a huge taxpayer burden. When the sales tax tanks, the bondholders have priority and must be paid first.

What happens if Florida eliminates property taxes from homesteaded property? The Stadium District CRA revenue would tank and not be able to cover its debt repayment. Has Ken Hagan or the County thought thru that "what if"?

The proposed Rays Stadium Subsidy Scam is selling snake oil to the taxpayers. 

There is NO CIT "Surplus".  The sketchy stadium finances are riddled with wrong information, too many unknowns and debt, debt and more debt that will hammer taxpayers for decades. 

And Taxpayers Beware! 

When projects promised cannot be funded, watch for the County to put a new tax hike referendum on the 2028 ballot.

Contact the county commissioners and tell them to reject the proposed Sketchy Stadium Subsidy Scam now because it will burden taxpayers for decades.

Stadium Subsidies Double With Costly Curve Balls Thrown At Taxpayers As Rays Timeline Looms

St. Louis Federal Reserve

Lots of curve balls hitting as the Rays June 1 deadline looms, including the taxpayer's subsidy for a new Rays stadium has doubled to over $2 BILLION.

And probably higher.

Bonds will be issued to fund a new stadium. None of the financial analysis presented includes the interest and debt costs the taxpayers will be forced to pay the bondholders. That curve ball adds hundreds of millions of dollars to the taxpayer's bill.

Vulnerable sales tax revenues tank first when there's an economic downturn. 

It's not Hillsborough County's first rodeo dealing with tanking CIT tax revenues while enriching bondholders. It happened in 2007 when Ken Hagan pushed the then commissioners to bond out the last 20 years of the 1996 CIT funds and the big recession hit in 2008.

Remember voters were told in 1996 those funds would NOT be bonded out but spent in 10 year increments on roads and new infrastructure.

CIT revenues tanked in 2008 and taxpayers were forced to pay the bondholders first instead of funding projects they were promised. 

That was the beginning of the end of Hillsborough County properly funding roads. No wonder almost 20 years later, county roads are such a mess. 

Voters were told specifically by super majority of county commissioners in 2024, including Ken Hagan, that the renewed CIT funds would NOT be used for any NEW stadium. 

Deja Vu? Another curve ball now hitting the taxpayers in the face.

Remember the 2018 All for Transportation tax hike referendum ballot language was ruled Unconstitutional by the Florida Supreme Court. The 2022 All for Transportation 2.0 tax hike referendum ballot language was ruled misleading by a District Court judge. It was allowed to remain on the ballot when appealed by the County, and thankfully defeated at the ballot box.

More curve balls will hit the taxpayers in the face if lawsuits are filed against the County regarding the 2024 CIT renewal referendum if commissioners vote to use CIT for the Rays stadium.

Another curve ball is what are the opportunity costs of subsidizing a stadium benefiting the city of Tampa that neglects the rest of Hillsborough County? Does anyone know? What economic growth would occur more fairly throughout the entire county if taxpayers were not handing Billions to the Tampa centric Billionaires? Why hasn't such analysis been done and publicly presented? 

The HCC land has not been appraised. No one has told taxpayers what it will cost to move HCC to a new location. We're also all state taxpayers so we'll be paying for all those costs too. There's no "free" lunch as another curve ball hits the taxpayers in the face.

A "Stadium District" CRA will be created that forces the increase in property tax revenues to stay in the District. This is unfair to the rest of the County and city of Tampa taxpayers - because those funds would normally be distributed more fairly to benefit those throughout the County and city of Tampa. CRA's are known for corruption and benefiting crony donors and another curve ball that hits taxpayers in the face. 

The touted economic benefits of publicly funding sports stadiums is selling snake oil. 

From the St. Louis Federal Reserve:  

In spite of all of these economic arguments, economists generally oppose subsidizing professional sports stadiums. When surveyed, 86 percent of economists agreed that “local and state governments in the U.S. should eliminate subsidies to professional sports franchises.”

They [Economists] often stress that estimations of the economic impact of sports stadiums are exaggerated because they fail to recognize opportunity costs. Consumers who spend money on sporting events would likely spend the money on other forms of entertainment, which has a similar economic impact. Rather than subsidizing sports stadiums, governments could finance other projects such as infrastructure or education that have the potential to increase productivity and promote economic growth.

Hillsborough County stated in 2024 that a renewed CIT half percent sales tax would generate $200M in the first year and grow 3% per year over the life of the tax. At that time sales tax was still being collected for commercial leases.

The State legislature eliminated sales tax for commercial leases effective 10/1/2025. At the Stadium workshop this month, the County reduced the CIT revenue estimates by 8% that was estimated to come from commercial leases, stated the economy had slowed but increased the CIT revenue growth rate to 3.7%....at the request of the Rays who actually wanted to show a 4% growth rate.

The end game of lower CIT revenue, even with a higher projected growth, is there is NO CIT surplus. Why didn't the County tell the Rays the $200M initial baseline revenue was wrong? Claiming there will be a CIT surplus is not true and another curve ball hitting the taxpayers in the face.  

The most alarming curve ball presented at the Stadium Workshop was for the Rays to loot the County's Cash Reserves. This has never been discussed publicly before and apparently astonished some commissioners.   

The irony in all the years of Ken Hagan claiming the County must protect its Reserves to protect its credit rating. 

Unless the Rays get to loot them.... 

The County recently told the Rays they cannot "complete the deal" by the Rays June 1 dateline due to their process to finalize takes 60-90 days. 

The Rays are still demanding a vote by the commissioners to approve the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in May.

But public opinion opposes the use of taxpayer funds to build a new Rays stadium and subsidize development to enrich the Rays Billionaire owners.

And this is the arrogance of Ken Hagan, who's been pursuing a new Rays stadium since 2010, treats the taxpayers:

The county also wants the Rays to cover a $75 million shortfall in public funding outlined during the workshop.

“I say somewhat jokingly, on a $2.3 billion project, that’s almost a rounding error,” Hagan told WDAE.

The taxpayer costs have doubled, the deal is still sketchy with too many unknowns and the costly curve balls keep coming to hit the taxpayers in the face.

This Stadium deal is selling Snake Oil.

And the real joke will be on taxpayers stuck funding another Billionaire's stadium black hole if the Rays Stadium Subsidy Scam is not stopped now.

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Contact county commissioners 

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.