The Columbus Coalition for Responsive Government announced plans to protest the 2012 purchase of Nationwide Arena by the Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority, which the group says is unfair to taxpayers. According to their press, release issued today:
The Coalition points to a continuation of the disappointing trend that underfunds the public purchase of Nationwide Arena by the City of Columbus and Franklin County, by using those tax receipts. With Columbus and Franklin County tax receipts totaling less than $4.4 million in the last quarter of the year, these numbers confirm that for a second year straight (since the deal was brokered in private meetings), the public will make no payments of principle or interest on the $42.5M in debt outstanding and owed to bond purchaser Nationwide Mutual Insurance.
The effect of this underfunding, means that the city/county authority (Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority) that owns the arena will not have sufficient funds to build a capital improvements reserve to fund the inevitable future capital needs of the facility, and it will not have any money to pay down debt. Under the terms of the various agreements, the unpaid debt will be added to the principle balance and accrue 4.875% interest until paid. Unless the deal is restructured, it is extremely unlikely the purchase debt will ever be paid off.
The issue is one that The Coalition has been fighting for awhile through alternative proposals, petitions and council reform initiatives.
“City Council has refused to support putting the citizens’ solution on the ballot and is ignoring this issue, despite the presentation of over 30,000 petition signatures seeking to do so,” states Jon Beard, Former Chair of the Columbus Coalition for Responsive Government. “Citizens have tried to offer a constructive and do-able solution but it has been rebuffed, so now it is up to the city council and county commissioners to figure out how to fix this problem they created when they overrode voters and approved borrowing money for a publicly-funded sports facility that had been turned down at the ballot box.”
Beard says that next steps will include moving the issue to the courtrooms rather than refiling the same petition for the Arena, and continuing to push to convert Columbus City Council from an at-large system to a ward-based system.
“A district-based model enhances competition and that allows council members to better represent citizen interests,” explains Beard. “The Coalition will again begin circulating petitions to ensure our government represents the interests of the people of Columbus first, and that Columbus elected officials who do not represent the peoples’ interests will be retired to private life through the type of fair and competitive elections that Columbus hasn’t seen in decades.”
Protesters will be present outside of Nationwide Arena through 5pm today, where they will also collect signatures for Council petitions and sharing information. Beard says that their stance should not be misread as anti-hockey.
“We support the players and we enjoy the game – the Blue Jackets play a fast, hard-nosed and exciting brand of hockey,” he explains. “But we are determined that the sports industry model of abundantly wealthy team owners getting richer by picking the wallets of everyday citizens will not be supported in Columbus through backroom political deals, but if it happens it will be only through a vote of the people.”
For more information, visit www.ColumbusCoalition.info.
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