With the completion of Phase 1 in 2020 and Phase 2 in October 2023 of the Paradise Coast Sports Complex, County staff requested the Board of County Commissioners (BCC) provide direction for subsequent phases. Following the original approved project plan, the next Phases of the Sports Complex would be:
- Phase 3 – which includes Field No. 9 and its associated pre-engineered metal building structure, the south parking lot, and a bathroom with an estimated development cost of $9-10M.
- Phase 4 – consists of eleven multipurpose fields (five fields will be softball, little league, mini soccer/football/lacrosse, and six fields will be baseball, soccer/football/lacrosse) as well as required restrooms and other facilities worth $40-50M dollars in construction.
At the August 13 BCC Meeting, the Commissioners expressed the need for a more detailed financial and contractual analysis of the project before any action is taken. Several of the concerns were expressed by the Board. Commissioner McDaniel requested that the Total Project Cost (TPC) in the initial project proposal that had been estimated at a total of $80-90M. The development costs are currently at over $114M, not including the annual operating costs or interest on the debt used to build the complex, even though Phases 3-5 have not been built.
The deviation from initial plans, wherein several of the developments that were to be included in Phases 1 and 2 were moved to subsequent Phases, calls for a need to reassess not only the subsequent Phases but the entire project. Evaluation of the expected ROI for all phases and the timing of each Phase will be reviewed. Questions include amenities to be developed in the next phases and reviewing if they still aligned with community needs? Consideration of prioritization of further phases at the Complex vs. other community needs were discussed and will be reviewed.
The initial tourist tax bond for stadium construction yielded approximately $65.5M in revenue with an annual debt service of approximately $3.7M. The final maturity on this bond issue is not until October 1, 2048. It is important to recognize that an additional $9.9M was borrowed from beach renourishment reserves and $7.3M from the beach park facilities fund, both of which are supported by tourist tax revenues. Most of these borrowed funds have not been reimbursed.
If funding for Phase 3 ($10M) and Phase 4 ($50M) are approved, it will nearly repeat the initial tourist tax bond funding. Assuming that the pledge on a bond issue would be available, non-ad valorem revenues would require additional annual funding approaching $3.7M. Given the demands on ad valorem revenues to support General Fund operating costs, coupled with the need to support aging infrastructure throughout the County, this debt service would be an additional burden to support from available funds.