ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, May 9, 1996 TAG: 9605090079
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: Associated Press
Gov. George Allen said Wednesday that he will not support tax increases, even on a regional basis, to help finance construction of a baseball stadium in Northern Virginia.
In a letter to the co-chairmen of a subcommittee studying the stadium proposal, Allen said a major league team's owners and fans should pay most of the construction costs.
``What I will not support are increased taxes levied on the general public. subsidize the construction of a stadium that will benefit others,'' Allen wrote to Del. Vince Callahan and Sen. Richard Saslaw, both of Fairfax County.
Allen's letter was sent a day after supporters of a major league franchise for Virginia dominated a public hearing on stadium financing in Herndon.
Virginia Baseball Club, led by telecommunications executive William L. Collins III, is trying to bring a major league team to the state. Five stadium sites are being studied in four Northern Virginia counties.
Allen said the stadium should be financed by team owners and ``user fees,'' such as a surcharge on game tickets and parking fees. Sales and income taxes generated by the team could be dedicated to paying off construction bonds.
Collins said Wednesday that those revenue sources would generate only about half the $16 million a year needed to retire the debt on a $250 million stadium. He said the only feasible financing formula would include public and private funds.
Collins' group failed in an effort to buy the Houston Astros last year but may renew negotiations this summer. The stadium subcommittee faces a July 1 deadline for submitting a financing plan.
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