Washoe County Commissioners voted unanimously on Tuesday to approve a settlement with Reno Aces Ballpark developers to pay back $1.9 million in back taxes over four years.Â
The county will waive about $800,000 in penalties, interests and other costs.Â
The stadium is owned by the City of Reno but the land is owned by the team's owners, Herb Simon, Jerry Katzoff and Stuart Katzoff. Those involved say this agreement will prevent costly and lengthy litigation that could have taken years to resolve.
"It's so important to get the stadium operating, normally, again," Marsha Berkbigler, Washoe County Commissioner said. "This past weekend, I had so many emails from people, saying 'Thank you, so much, for settling this, getting these guys to pay their taxes because now I can go back to baseball again.'"
The Aces will make four payments of over the next four years to pay off the outstanding balance. The team's property taxes totaled more than $366,000, last year alone.
"I, personally, am just very excited to have this cloud lifted and focus on what it is that we do best, which is providing affordable, family-friendly entertainment," Eric Edelstein, President of the Reno Aces told Channel 2 News on Monday.Â
The disagreement was over whether the ballpark was subject to property taxes. The public-private plan included a special taxing district that would direct the growth of property taxes back to the developers to pay for construction costs of the $85 million development. But that was wiped out after Washoe County's taxable value of real property dropped from $17.2 billion to $12.2 billion in just five years.
"It all ultimately became complicated by the worst recession, certainly in our lifetime," Edelstein said. "So, it made everything about the deal and the agreement more challenging." Â Â
Both sides agree this deal had to get done. Â Especially, since estimates show the Aces produce a total economic impact of $21.1 million per year.
