Baseball stadium tax on Brighton ballot

Bill Scanlon, Rocky Mountain News

Published October 23, 2007 at midnight

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BRIGHTON — Hot dogs will cost a penny more and new cars $50 more if voters here agree to a sales tax increase to pay for a minor league baseball stadium.

Voters on Nov. 6 also will decide whether to boost the city's debt by $7.7 million to pay for street repairs brought on in part by last winter's record-breaking snowstorms.

The street repairs won't mean any extra taxes, because they'll be paid for by revenue bonds or other means chosen by the city council.

But the $18 million minor league park would cost two cents for every $10 purchase in the form of a two-tenths of 1 percent increase in sales tax.

The city council is endorsing the ballpark as a way to promote family values, noting that it won't just host the 45 home games to be played by the Brighton team in the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball. It would be available 20 times a year at no cost to Brighton high school teams, local youth sports leagues, the Performing Arts Commission and the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life.

The AAIPB says it wants franchises in both Brighton and Castle Rock because metro Denver is one of the few places in the nation that doesn't have minor league ball in the shadow of a major league park.

The major league club sparks great interest in the game, but many people are priced out of Coors Field, say proponents of the minor league stadium. By contrast, people in Adams County can watch good baseball in a cozy stadium for about $50 per family, including hot dogs.

Minor league baseball's success is mixed, though. The St. Paul Saints, across the river from the Minnesota Twins' major league park, have been drawing several thousand people a game for decades and do well.

But other minor league teams have sputtered, moving every few years to different cities, leaving behind vacant ballparks.

Officials say Brighton would have to draw about 3,500 fans a game to be successful.

Street repairs are needed because of the innumerable cracks and potholes brought on by age and by the snowstorms and cold weather of 2006-07, the city council said in an endorsement resolution.

Repairing 36 miles of streets will help residents get better gas mileage and cut down on car repairs, the resolution said.

Brighton voters also will be deciding on four seats to the city council. Two of the seats have just a single candidate, but in Ward I Tom Janich is opposing incumbent Terry Moore, and in Ward III Valerie Espinoza Martinez faces off against Rob Farina.

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