. Listen to 1140. They are kind of panicing.Vote to put arena funding plan on ballot delayed
By Terri Hardy -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 4:57 pm PDT Wednesday, August 2, 2006
A vote to put an arena funding plan on the November ballot hit an unexpected bump in the road Wednesday with the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors. The supervisors' vote has been postponed until 7:30 p.m. to allow officials "to get the appropriate agreements in place," said County Executive Terry Schutten.
Schutten said "things were moving smoothly," but tight-lipped county officials would not offer more specifics. Schutten didn't elaborate on problems encountered, except to say "with any situation like this there is a very complex set of issues involved."
Chris Holben, a spokesman for the arena negotiating team, said parties involved in the arena plan were finalizing all terms reached last month.
"They're attempting to dot the I's and cross the T's," Holben said.
It's unclear what portions of the agreement between the city, county and the Maloofs, owners of the Sacramento Kings, are being discussed. Arena negotiators hammered out an agreement last month. City and county officials at the time said a finalized and detailed "Memorandum of Understanding" would be completed in October, but never before mentioned the need for more discussion on basic deal points.
Last week, supervisors held a four-hour hearing on the arena issue, and their vote tally was the same. By law, a second hearing was required, and supervisors had said Wednesday's action was viewed as a formality.
The supervisors Wednesday night will address if they will place on the November ballot a quarter cent sales tax for 15 years. A companion advisory measure will ask voters if they would like to see the $1.2 billion in revenue raised by the tax divided between the arena and a host of community projects throughout the county.
