Petitions launched on stadium question
“Anita Miller scrambled over the weekend to supply volunteers with petitions for a ballot measure that would afford voters the chance to approve a city stadium and events center.
If they collect 14,482 valid signatures from Colorado Springs voters in the next 90 days, the measure will be placed on the April 7 city election ballot.
The petitions were approved on Friday, and Miller, wife of City Councilor Joel Miller, is upbeat.
“I’ve communicated with literally thousands of taxpayers,” she said on Oct. 8, after the measure’s title was approved. “I’m confident that the vast majority of citizens don’t want to use city funds to build a $200 million stadium downtown that we will not own.” She was referring to the all-in cost of the stadium, including financing charges.
The stadium is part of the City for Champions tourism package. Although the city has been assigned $120.5 million in state sales tax money over the next 30 years for its four attractions, that’s only a portion of the funding needed. Under a state resolution outlining the funding, the stadium would receive about $28 million, meaning the balance would have to come from other sources.”
Zubeck, Pam. Colorado Springs Independent 15 October 2014.