JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Digging for change in the couch cushions won't be enough to pay for renovations to the Jaguars stadium.
But city leaders have begun looking for possible revenue sources to finance what could be a billion-dollar city commitment.
Former Mayor of Jacksonville, John Delaney, who negotiated the first stadium deal when the team came to the city in 1993, said the deal relied on finding dedicated revenue streams. Some of which are still being used 30 years later.
“A parking surcharge, a cut of the concessions the cokes and hamburgers that are sold. You have all these other revenue things that help make that bond payment," Delaney said.
He called it a menu for the city to choose from.
Currently, the city charges hotel guests a 6 percent bed tax. Last year that amounted to almost $28 million. One-third of that goes towards promoting tourism in Jacksonville.
Most of the remaining two-thirds is dedicated to stadium upkeep and bond payments.
“The bed tax and I don’t know this one, but it used to be six cents and so $100 room it would be like six bucks and each dollar is assigned to different things,” Delaney said.
Another option is a ticket surcharge.
The city’s rate for NFL games is $3.55 per ticket and generated $1.7 million last fiscal year,
Higher than when Delaney was negotiating.
“It was like a buck a ticket and maybe two and half bucks on a jaguar [game] that probably needs to go to 5, 7.50, or 10 bucks," Delaney said.
If the city raises the surcharge to $10 a ticket it would generate nearly $5 million.
Combined with nearly 28 million in bed tax money the city would have close to $32 million in dedicated dollars each year.
“Out of a billion dollars that’s about $80 million a year on a mortgage payment or a bond payment somewhere between $20 or $40 million of those payments are probably going to be generated by the stadium itself so the city really only has to come up with about those $40-$50 million a year. Sounds like a lot but when you got a budget that’s approaching $2 billion it’s really just a couple percent," Delaney said.