« Taxpayers could be left holding the bag for Braves stadium »

Listening to District 2 Commissioner Bert Nasuti, Gwinnett taxpayers should not have worried about the money being spent on the Gwinnett Braves stadium.  The facility would generate more revenue than it cost.  I guess that was supposed to comfort us taxpayers who were effectively made co-signers on the stadium financing deal by our wise Board of Commissioners.  Well, thanks to the tightening economy, the commission's chickens may be coming home to roost.  The naming rights crucial to generating stadium revenue for Gwinnett County may be a little harder to sell with corporate America seeing profits eroding in front of their collective eyes.

The county projected selling naming rights for $800,000, but a portion of the proceeds would go to the Braves. If the county can’t make a deal by September, the Braves get to sell the rights and keep more of the money.

If naming rights don’t bring in enough to cover the debt, the county might have to cover the cost even as it is cutting staff and expenses amid an effort to trim $35 million from its annual budget, said County Administrator Jock Connell.

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The likely contender [to cover the shortfall] is property tax revenue from the county’s general fund, although there’s been some discussion about a longshot option — using proceeds from the county’s Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax. Connell indicated that’s unlikely.

At a time when the county is already having difficulties balancing its 2009 budget and with the specter of a property tax hike looming, the construction of a baseball stadium that will bring an unnecessary minor league version of a sport to a major league metro area could worsen that problem.  What makes this all the more galling is the excess stadium costs approved this past summer so that, according to Commissioner Nasuti, the stadium could be built "right."

The disdain this commission has shown for Gwinnett residents is absolutely appalling.  Baseball stadiums being built for high-dollar private organizations with our tax money.  A socialized garbage program that could fine residents for putting a trash can on a curb at 6:45 in the evening.  An unneeded park planned for an area in order to pursue a political agenda (fortunately that commissioner won't be on the board come next month).  I am too young to remember details of the misadventures of the Lillian Webb commission in the 1980s, but I have to think that, in terms of sheer disdain for county residents and taxpayers, the current commission is rapidly approaching this low point.