Cobb Homeowners To Pay Half the Public Portion for New Braves Stadium

The  Braves are set to cover 55 percent of the stadium’s $672 million price tag. The rest would come from Cobb. About half the public portion is set to come from the county’s homeowners through existing property taxes.

Brooklyn-based Neil deMause, who co-authored Field of Schemes: How the Great Stadium Swindle Turns Public Money into Private Profit, said it may not be a property tax hike, but homeowners will still be paying.

“The property tax stream…it’s either money that the county could be taxing and then spending on something else or it’s something the county could not be collecting taxes on,” said deMause.

Cobb officials say property tax funds which are currently being used to pay off park and recreation bonds set to expire in 2017 will be reallocated to the project.

Another big chunk of the total costs would come from commercial property owners in the area surrounding the proposed stadium.

Andrew Zimbalist, an economics professor at Smith College who studies stadium financing, said the deal assumes a significant boost to the local economy, but he noted that’s far from certain.

“What does it mean for the health of those businesses? They’re counting on the Braves being worth the investment and it’s not clear that will happen given historical experience,” said Zimbalist.

Cobb commissioners will vote on the deal Nov. 26.