Minnesota State Rep. Introduces Bill To Halt Public Financing Of Football Stadium Until Revenue Is Secure

Artist's rendering of new Vikings stadium

The Minnesota state legislature last year approved a financing plan for a new stadium for the National Football League’s Minnesota Vikings. In doing so, it exploited a legal loophole to provide $348 million in taxpayer money for the project.

The revenues were supposed to come from revenues from new electronic pull-tab machines, but by January, it was already clear that those revenues weren’t keeping up with projections, meaning the new stadium was already turning into a financial nightmare before construction even began. Now, a Minnesota state representative is preparing to introduce legislation that would halt construction — and the bond sale meant to pay for it — until the state can guarantee that the pull-tabs will generate enough revenue to pay for it, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports:

Republican state Sen. Sean Nienow of Cambridge says he’ll introduce a bill that would delay the sale of bonds for a new Vikings stadium until a revenue stream to pay them off is secured.

Additional tax revenue from newly authorized electronic forms of charitable gaming, which was supposed to pay the state’s share of the stadium, is coming in much slower than anticipated, and the backup sources aren’t expected to be able to produce more than a few million dollars per year.

Nienow says he and Rep. Mary Franson, R-Alexandria, plan to introduce the bill next week.

As we have documented here, stadiums consistently turn out as bad deals for taxpayers, as the promised revenue streams almost always come up short of projections and leave cities and states footing the bill, whether through increased debt, higher taxes, or cuts to public programs.

What makes Minnesota’s stadium different is that it became clear even before construction began that revenues meant to pay for the stadium aren’t going to come close to covering the cost. While Nienow’s legislation wouldn’t abandon the stadium plan altogether, it would still force the state to find actual revenue to pay for the stadium, though that will still leave taxpayers footing the bill so the Vikings’ wealthy owner can make more money from a stadium than he could have made from the old one. (HT Field of Schemes)

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HHS Delays Basic Health Plan Option Until 2015

The Obama administration has delayed by one year the rollout of a health program aimed at low to moderate-income people who won’t qualify for the expanded Medicaid program under the federal health law.

Under the so-called Basic Health Program, some states had planned to offer government insurance to people who don’t qualify for Medicaid, but who would be hard pressed — even with federal subsidies — to afford the premiums and cost-sharing of plans offered in the new insurance marketplaces. Those earning up to twice the federal poverty level, or about $47,000 for a family of four, would have been eligible.

The Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday said it basically ran out of time to put out guidelines to get the program running by 2014.

“HHS expects to issue proposed rules regarding the Basic Health Program for comment in 2013 and final guidance in 2014, so that the program will be operational beginning in 2015 for states interested in pursuing this option.”

HHS said it will work with states to have the program available in 2015 and help states continue efforts to help people get coverage who don’t qualify for Medicaid.

Proponents of the Basic Health Program idea maintain that having such a plan would make coverage more affordable by offering lower cost-sharing.

Washington, Minnesota, Iowa and New York are scheduled to end their programs later this year because it was assumed beneficiaries would get coverage through the health law. Massachusetts’ program will expire in June.

Another advantage of the basic health program is that people won’t have to worry about paying the government back if their incomes increase during the year in which they are enrolled, while people getting subsidies could face that prospect.

“We see this as good news because we have a clear commitment that BHP funding will be available in 2015, as well as a commitment that the federal government will work with us to continue MinnesotaCare through 2014 until BHP funding becomes available,” said Jeremy Drucker, spokesman for Minnesota Department of Human Services. About 130,000 people are enrolled in MinnesotaCare, which is scheduled to end in December.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 7th, 2013 at 5:58 am.

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