[The Ripper]

City residents appeal judge’s ruling on stadium financing
Aug 11, 2015, 2:46pm CDT
http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news ... ml?s=print

Jacob Kirn
Digital Producer- St. Louis Business Journal
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Three city of St. Louis residents have appealed a judge’s ruling that voided an ordinance requiring voter approval for any tax dollars used for a professional sports facility.
Saint Louis University School of Law professor John Ammann, who’s representing the residents, said the filing was made Tuesday to the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District.
Ammann said he would argue St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Thomas Frawley made three errors in his ruling, which was handed down earlier this month, apparently making it easier for the city to use bond proceeds for a new $1 billion Mississippi riverfront stadium without a public vote.
Ammann’s appeal says Fawley erred by denying Ammann’s motion to intervene in the lawsuit. (Ammann argued the city could not be trusted to defend its ordinance, and, he says, the city’s decision not to appeal proves his point.) It also says Frawley’s ruling that the ordinance is vague is incorrect, and that Frawley misinterpreted the term “adjacent.”
Frawley’s ruling said the 2002 ordinance, for example, did not clearly state which city official or entity would act as a governing body to determine when a ballot measure would be submitted to a public vote. The ruling also said “adjacent” means “near or close at hand,” and not necessarily touching. The Edward Jones Dome is separated from the new stadium site only by the interstate, the St. Louis Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority (RSA) has argued.
Ammann said he would ask for an expedited appeals process, which, even in a best-case scenario, would take “a few months.”
St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay has said the city will not appeal Frawley’s ruling because keeping St. Louis a National Football League town is too important. He also said the St. Louis Board of Aldermen would have a say on financing. The Board of Aldermen does not reconvene until next month. Nine of the city’s 28 aldermen in May called for a public vote on the use of city tax dollars for a new stadium.
The financing plan for the stadium, put forth by Gov. Jay Nixon's task force, includes $66 million in RSA bond proceeds from the city of St. Louis and $135 million in RSA bond proceeds from the state of Missouri. St. Louis County would not contribute funds.
The combined $201 million would be paired with $200 million from the NFL’s G4 loan program; $250 million from an NFL team owner; $187 million in tax credits, Missouri Development Finance Board contributions and other state or city incentives; and about $160 million in seat licensing sales, a figure lower than an NFL market study indicated St. Louis could provide.

[Hacksaw]

Nice find. The timing of this when the NFL owners have these cities frontal in their minds, (and they're next door) is not positive for StL.
Thanks for posting this... a mucky Mississippi stadium mess could make the owners decisions easier.