Reno Delays Baseball Vote

The Reno, Nev. City Council postponed a decision during Tuesday’s regular meeting on a tentative plan to provide a $30 million subsidy to help the owners of the Reno Aces, its minor league baseball team, refinance their stadium development debt.

Funding was originally going to come from tax revenues from the city’s redevelopment agency.

But property values in Reno tanked in the recession and the redevelopment agency wasn’t able to help pay off the construction loan, according to a report from the Reno Gazette-Journal.

City leaders have been weighing the financial repercussions of the team leaving town if it secures a better offer against a shrunken city budget that now funds a third fewer city staff than it did in 2007.

The council is expected to decide by the end of January, according to the news report.

The money would help the Aces owners refinance a $55 million construction loan owed to Deutsche Bank.

Officials are concerned that if they strike the agreement, the city’s general fund rating could be downgraded at some point in the future if it can’t afford to make the annual subsidy because the Aces ownership plans to issue debt tied to the subsidy, the report said.

Under the agreement, the city would have to reapprove the $1 million subsidy every year.

The agreement also includes a $500,000 annual subsidy from Washoe County and a $1.5 million annual contribution from the Aces ownership.

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Nevada
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