Three years after building a new $64 million minor league baseball stadium that was supposed to pay for itself, Gwinnett County is struggling to find money to pay the debt on Coolray Field.
A new car rental tax and stadium revenue were supposed to generate enough to repay money borrowed to build the Lawrenceville stadium. But they’re not producing as much as expected and won’t cover the bills when Gwinnett starts making principal payments in three years, county financial projections show.
Now The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has learned Gwinnett plans to use hotel-motel tax revenue to help make debt payments as soon as next year. By 2014 about $600,000 in hotel-motel taxes could be diverted to the stadium’s debt. A project sold to the public as an economic engine has become one more financial headache in a county grappling with budget issues.
County officials say the Great Recession stunted stadium finances and attendance at Gwinnett Braves games. As the economy recovers, they say, revenue could eventually beat projections. Stadium advocates say it will still pay for itself in the long run and is worth the price.
“At the end of the day we’ve got this showcase stadium,” said former County Commissioner Bert Nasuti, one of its chief advocates. “Four hundred thousand plus people a year go out there and love the place.”
In Friday's newspaper, the AJC takes a close look at Gwinnett's struggles to pay for Coolray Field. It's a story you'll get only by picking up a copy of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution or logging on to the paper's iPad app . Subscribe today .
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