Nassau County residents this summer could weigh in on a $400 million borrowing to help finance two new sports facilities on Long Island.
County Executive Edward Mangano Wednesday announced a plan to keep the National Hockey League’s New York Islanders in Nassau by building a new sports arena for the team. His initiative also includes construction of a new minor league baseball park.
The Islanders currently play at 39-year-old Nassau Coliseum. The team’s lease will expire in 2015 and the county is working to keep the hockey team playing on the island. Construction of the new arena would begin next year and the facility would open in 2015.
Nassau would issue $400 million of debt with future revenue generated from the new facilities and the site going to repay the bonds.
The Islanders would contribute revenue that it makes from the new arena, and officials anticipate a boost in sales-tax receipts.
“The people that we spoke to both in the Islanders organization and our own financial consultants believe that the dollars generated from this property and the meaning to our residents will far exceed the investment in the construction — both in terms of job creation, sales-tax generation and actual revenue sharing, unlike the prior models that the county has entered into,” Mangano told reporters during a press conference announcing the plan.
Future revenue projections for the site will be forthcoming. “We will be getting those figures out as we develop the plan and the Coliseum,” Mangano said.
If the County Legislature and the Nassau County Interim Finance Authority approve the referendum, voters would weigh in on the $400 million issue on Aug. 1.
NIFA in late January imposed a control period for the county after it identified a fiscal 2011 deficit that’s more than 1% of the $2.6 billion spending plan. Since then, the oversight agency has approved a wage freeze that will give the county $10.5 million in payroll savings this year.
“NIFA’s approval is required for all county borrowing, including the $400 million in new debt proposed today, and for all major contracts,” the authority said in a statement. “As we await necessary information from the county regarding the 2011 and 2012 budgets, NIFA requires details of this new plan, which must be evaluated in the context of the county’s fiscal crisis, the wage freeze on county employees, and the reductions in services to county residents.”
Separately, Mangano is pursuing a casino development project at Belmont Park in conjunction with the Shinnecock Indian Nation. The casino project requires federal and state approval.
Mangano said the gaming development would create thousands of local jobs and generate hundreds of millions of dollars.
