Council rejects advisory referendum on stadium funding

By Conor Shine

Published Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015 | 1:30 p.m.

Updated Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015 | 3:03 p.m.

The Las Vegas City Council voted down a proposal today to ask voters in the June election if they support a publicly funded downtown soccer stadium.

A divided council approved plans last month for a $200 million stadium that would include $56.5 million in public funding and 13 acres of city-owned land valued at $38 million to $48 million.

The ballot-question proposal was put forward by Councilman Bob Beers, a consistent opponent of taxpayer funding for the stadium project. Beers was joined by Councilman Stavros Anthony and Councilwoman Lois Tarkanian in voting against the stadium last month.

Beers, Anthony and Tarkanian voted today to start the process to put an advisory question about public funding for the stadium on the June ballot.

But they were outvoted by the coalition of stadium supporters — Mayor Carolyn Goodman and councilmen Bob Coffin, Ricki Barlow and Steve Ross.

The vote means planning for the stadium will continue unchanged.

Beers, however, said he would press ahead with gathering signatures to force an advisory question on the ballot. The number of signatures on the petition would need to at least equal 15 percent of the number of people who voted in the 2013 Las Vegas municipal election.

The stadium’s developers, a partnership between Baltimore-based Cordish Cos. and the local Findlay Sports and Entertainment group, are due to present a final development agreement to the City Council in February.