YORK COUNTY, S.C. (CN2 NEWS) – After nearly three hours in executive session Monday night, York County council members voted 4 to 3 to pass a resolution to offer an “alternative financial package” to Tepper Sports and Entertainment in hopes the Carolina Panthers will resume work on the $800 million dollar project in Rock Hill.
The proposed package would offer a different way to finance the infrastructure on the site according to York County councilman William Bump Roddey.
“What it does is there’s no borrowing of 225 million in bonds, it’s straight now credit, the developer, Tepper Sports and Entertainment will pay for the infrastructure out of their pockets and we will basically give them credit each year as if they were paying taxes back, crediting them back for the cost that they will put in the ground for infrastructure”, says Roddey.
Roddey says Tepper Sports and Entertainment, plus the city have to agree for the proposed package to become official.
“We did out part. That was to come here tonight to put something on the table for the city to consider and the Panthers to consider” says Roddey.
This comes after Tepper Sports and Entertainment announced it was pausing construction on the training facility because it said the city of Rock Hill was unable to contribute the agreed upon investment to fund the construction of the public infrastructure.
This also goes back to a letter sent to County officials in May 2021 from the Carolina Panthers asking for their assistance because the 225 million dollars in infrastructure bonds had not been secured at that time.
During the city of Rock Hill council meeting this past Monday, March 14th, Mayor Gettys took the opportunity to shed more light on the situation saying, “I think its important while we are here so the people of Rock Hill can hear the facts. This is a complicated project and there is always risk for failure with this type of large undertaking. This city council and management team do everything to exercise our best efforts to bring the bonds to market. Short of risking the city’s credit rating.”
Getty’s saying, “any indication by the Panthers that the City of Rock Hill did not do its absolute and professional best, is not true, facts are stubborn things.”
City leaders also said in that meeting it was just two weeks away from issuing the debt when they found out the Panthers asked them to stop and indicated they wanted to try addition things to get the debt issued.
The resolution was not on the council agenda for Monday night.
Along with Roddey, councilman Brandon Guffey, Joel Hamilton and councilwoman, Allison Love voted in favor of the resolution.
York County chairwoman, Christi Cox along with councilman Robert Winkler and Tom Audette voted no.
Official release from York County is below:
“YORK, SC: On March 21, 2022 York County Council voted to approve a resolution to help restart work on the Carolina Panthers project in Rock Hill. A copy of that resolution is attached.
Over the past month, York County Management and County Council have worked to find ways to keep this project moving forward, while placing protection of County taxpayers as the highest priority. The resolution passed last night requires no borrowing from any local government. Instead it requires the Carolina Panthers to fund infrastructure upfront for construction of the headquarters and practice facility. York County will offer the Panthers special source revenue credits, paying the Panthers back through tax credits. That means York County, the City of Rock Hill and the Rock Hill School District will forgo additional tax revenue from the project. In order for local governments to avoid borrowing funds, additional tax credits were necessary for the project. However, this resolution has significantly reduced tax credits on all future investment after the practice facility and headquarters, which should make these terms better for taxpayers in the long run.
It’s the belief of County Government that without this action the project would be dead. Equally important is that construction of this transformational economic development project continue to provide jobs to the hundreds of men and women who work at the site every day. The City of Rock Hill and the Carolina Panthers must agree to these terms before this plan can move forward.”
