Critic: Full Cost of Braves Stadium is Double Amount Public's Heard

A Common Cause Georgia board member says Cobb County officials were not as straightforward as they should have been about the total public cost of a new Atlanta Braves Stadium, which will be double what has been publicized.

Common Cause board member Terry Taylor told WABE Radio that while county officials acknowledged annual payments of more than $17 million with interest over 30 years, they did not use that total in their official communications. Instead, Taylor says county officials have cited $300 million as the public cost of the project. With interest, maintenance costs and other expenses, Taylor says Cobb taxpayers will be forced to pay at least twice that amount.

“Usually in stadium transactions or stadium deals you always get a lower number than what the outflow actually is,” Taylor said. “I think what we’re concerned with in Common Cause is what do people hear. Do they hear $300 million or do they hear $600 million? It’s not an accident that you hear the smaller number.”

Cobb Commission Chairman Tim Lee disagrees, saying the county has always been honest when discussing project costs.

“I think I was very fair and transparent to speak in project numbers that are reflective of what the community is most familiar with when talking about when we talk about an idea,” he told WABE.  “We were also very clear when we said there would be annual costs associated with it and how that annual cost would be paid....When you talk about the total costs of the project you talk about the costs at the time you’re building it.”

Earlier Patch stories when the stadium plans were announced referenced a county commitment of $300 million. County officials said none of the funding will result in a property tax increase for homeowners.

Instead, $260 million of the Cobb's $300 million commitment will come from existing property tax revenues.

According to the documents, a county authority will issue $368 million in 30-year revenue bonds, with the Braves obligated to pay $92 million of those bonds. 

The county will repay the remaining $276 million in bond debt with a combination of those existing property tax revenues, and car rental, hotel and other special taxes in the self-taxing Cumberland Community Improvement District.

In November, WABE reported that with interest, Cobb taxpayers are expected to pay at least $537 million over 30 years.

The Citizens for Governmental Transparency group held a citizens town hall meeting last week in Marietta to discuss its continued opposition to Cobb County’s investment in the new stadium.

The coalition includes a range of organizations, from the Cobb Taxpayers Association, the East Cobb Democratic Alliance to the Cobb NAACP, among others.