The New York City Industrial Development Agency should delay a vote on $452.3 million of new-money financing for two Major League Baseball stadiums because of questions over the use of the funds and the role city officials played in the deals, Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, D-Westchester, said Friday.
In an unusual move, the IDA scheduled a vote on additional issuance for the new Yankee Stadium and Mets’ Citi Field Stadium for the day after a public hearing on Jan. 15 on the financing. Votes typically are scheduled for the following week.
“The integrity of government processes themselves is at stake, as much as the correctness of any decision to provide public assistance to the Yankees at a time of economic distress,” Brodsky
Brodsky, who chairs the Assembly committee on authorities and corporations, called for the publication of “secret documents” that it had requested but not received that would clarify the request for additional financing.
Neither the IDA nor the Yankees have publicly stated what the additional bonds would be used for, but according to a report from Moody’s Investors Service, they would in part be used for modifications to the original plan, adding a banquet and conference center. In June, the Yankees announced it would launch a new international restaurant franchise at the stadium called NYY Steak.
The Yankees are seeking $260 million of tax-exempt bonds and $110 million of taxable bonds, as well as a $60 million refunding of outstanding debt. The IDA sold $942.6 million of tax-exempt bonds backed by payments in lieu of taxes and $25 million of taxable bonds in 2006 on behalf of the Yankees.
The Mets are seeking an additional $82.3 million of tax-exempt bonds in addition to the $547.5 million of tax-exempt PILOT bonds and $65.4 million of taxable debt sold in 2006.
Questions over “the manipulation of the IDA process, including the use of a deviation letter and an inducement resolution inconsistent with each other, the artificial inflation of property tax assessments by the city, the successful pursuit of a luxury suite for city officials,” and other issues should be resolved before additional bond financing is permitted for Yankee Stadium, Brodsky wrote.
Yet IDA spokeswoman Janel Patterson said the public hearing on Jan. 15 allows for an open discussion of the bond issuance and more information of the borrowing will be available on Friday.
“The IDA has a public process, including substantial public disclosure, which we have always adhered to closely,” Patterson said in a prepared statement. “This process allows anyone the opportunity to provide comment on proposed issuances.”
“Before any final decisions are made with respect to these issuances, they are put to a vote at a meeting open to the public by NYCIDA’s board, which includes designees of the administration, as well as [city Comptroller William Thompson] and the five borough presidents,” the statement said. “All of these processes will be followed to the letter of the law in connection with the proposed Yankees and Mets issuances. The teams’ applications and the agency’s cost benefit analysis will be made available on our Web site, as is our usual practice, at or before noon on Jan. 9.”
