Officials say proposed indoor sports facility is too costly

New details tonight about a massive indoor sports complex proposed in Seminole County It's going to cost more to build than leaders first thought. Officials say the cost to build was $61 million. That was back in 2023, but that number has since jumped to $175 million. Matt Trezza joins us live now. Matt, the clerk of court warning the county now about this cost before they move forward on the project. Yeah, that's right. Grant Malloy is the clerk of court. He's also the county comptroller. He put out this white paper earlier. It says that it's probably, given the finances, a bad idea. My inspector general office has put out a report on what we feel are some risks that really need to be looked at that the county commissioners may not have taken a close look at. This white paper analyzes the proposed indoor sports complex the county aims to build near the airport. The venue would feature indoor basketball and outdoor volleyball courts. The space would also host regional tournaments from wrestling to cheer. But county comptroller Grant Malloy says the price tag has ballooned. When you look at this project, it has almost tripled in cost in three years from $61 million to $175 million. The projected revenue, based on their own numbers, doesn't even cover the debt service. The paper states that the complex's projected revenue is $121 million over 30 years. Assuming a 4.75% interest rate, it calculates an estimated negative cash flow of $211 million. Malloy says there's better ways to spend the county's money, especially considering the passage of Amendment 3. When you're telling taxpayers you don't have money for services and you might have to cut those back, What's happening in this project is they're currently taking money from sales tax that could be used for projects that help people and putting it into a risky indoor sports stadium where it has many risks. Commissioner Jay Zembauer spoke in favor of the project. There's been a lot of discussion about, quote, property taxes are going to be utilized for this facility. That's not the truth. That's not the case. Nor were we ever going to use that as a considered funding source. Commissioners are set to get an update on the project in January along with the latest information about costs, finances and the next steps. We're live in Sanford, Matt Trezza, Fox 35 News.