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King County Council approves $135M funding for Safeco Field

UPDATE: By a narrow margin, the King County Council voted to designate $135 million in hotel taxes over 25 years to renovate Safeco Field.

The vote was 5-4 with Councilmembers Jeanne Kohl-Welles, Paul Dembowski, Dave Upthegrove, and Larry Gossett voting no.

“The Mariners are a very profitable private business that can and should pay their own expenses,” Upthegrove said in a statement.

Supporters praised the legislation, and the Seattle Mariners baseball team plans to sign a 25-year lease to remain at the ballpark. Sponsor Peter Von Reichbauer called Safeco Field a “public treasure.”

He said “sports brings us together, and this team brings us together.”

Opponents had successfully argued to increase funding for housing to $660 million but say the council should have done more. Much of the additional housing money was moved from organizations that promote tourism.

King County Executive Dow Constantine promised to work with the King County Council on future tourism investments.

ORIGINAL TEXT: King County Council members will take a final vote on using public funds for the upkeep of Safeco Field on Monday.

The homeless crisis in Seattle has driven the funding debate.

The current plan would take money to promote tourism and put that into affordable housing. Groups like Visit Seattle will only get $8 million instead of $109 million.

The Mariners asked for $180 million of taxpayer money over 25 years for projects such as painting the retractable roof. The council voted 5-4 to give the stadium $135 million instead.

Four council members voted for a $26.4 million proposal.

"I'm one of those who just at my core believes that the public financing of professional sports teams is a racket and not in the public interest," said council member Dave Upthegrove.

Upthegrove and council members Jeanne Kohl-Welles, Larry Gossett and Rod Dembowski voted for the lower subsidy for the publicly owned stadium.

Council members Joe McDermott, Claudia Balducci, Pete von Reichbauer, Reagan Dunn and Kathy Lambert voted for the higher subsidy.

The Mariners are negotiating a 25-year lease with the public facilities district that owns the stadium.

"I do believe that the proposal that's now being considered from a financial perspective would allow us to get the deal done," Mariners General Counsel Fred Rivera told the council.

Despite many divided votes, all nine council members supported spending about $660 million of hotel tax money on affordable housing, which is around $165 million more than King County Executive Dow Constantine first proposed.

That vote happens at 1:30 p.m. in Seattle.