Will Amendment 3 impact Rays stadium funding?

With some major changes coming to how cities and counties are funded in Florida after the passage of Amendment 3, some are concerned about the impact on the effort to build a new stadium for the Rays in Tampa. The county is on the hook for nearly $800 million, but now faces some shortfalls in other areas of its budget because of the loss of more than $100 million in revenue. So could that impact the funding for this new stadium? FOX 13's Evan Axelbank has been looking into it and joins us now in the newsroom with more on this, Evan. Well, Amendment 3 is forcing every county and every city to take a look at their numbers, knowing that homestead exemptions are tripling in just the first year of this. Then it'll go up by more in the second year. Most of the ballpark funding is through tourist and sales taxes, so those would not be impacted by a change in property taxes. However, about $100 million of the county contribution, $800 million total contribution, would be from other funds. Now, the county has no estimate yet on how much exactly they would lose to Amendment 3. But in June, a meeting was held where they did estimate that with a $250,000 exemption, as it will be in year two, the county could lose $130 million of funding. That would be true for 2028. With slightly less for 2027, however, commissioners who have backed the project say the Rays Stadium would help grow the funding base because of the new taxes that it would take in. The passage of Amendment 3 actually makes it more important for us to have opportunities like this because this is what allows us to expand our tax base and get the revenues in that can keep the government running the way that people are accustomed. We are going to be losing money from ad valorem taxes on homesteaded property. The only way to recover some of that money without tax increases or fee increases is to increase the tax base of commercial and non-homesteaded property. And that's exactly what this deal does. So I think this deal is very important to the economic future of the region. Funding from the city of Tampa is about one-tenth of what the county is providing and only about $80 million. Now, that's going to come from bonds, which will cost the city some interest, but it is not expected to be impacted by property taxes. City councilors have said that it makes the growing tax base provided by a new stadium even more important. So, echoing some of the comments there by Harry Cohen, Hillsborough County is planning a workshop to discuss Amendment 3 cuts after the new year, Allie. All right. Evan Axelbank in the newsroom tonight. Evan, thank you.