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City of Mesa, Arizona

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Cubs Spring Training Facility in Mesa

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Background

On June 3, 2010 the City of Mesa announced an initiative that will provide the financing for the construction of a Chicago Cubs Spring Training facility in the City. The initiative involves the use of funds and assets from the City's enterprise fund, and will enable the stadium to be built with no increases in property taxes, no increases in sales taxes and no impact to the City's general fund.
The City of Mesa has built three spring training facilities over the past 60 years, and the City's use of enterprise funds is not without precedence. The enterprise fund consists of resources related to activities such as golf courses, waste management, water resources, utilities, and existing spring training facilities and operations.

Part of the City's plan includes selling its inventory of undeveloped farmland in Pinal County and utilizing sales proceeds to help finance the new facilities. The land will be sold in an orderly, market-driven fashion over the next 25 years.

In addition to the City's announcement, the Mesa Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) approved a proposal to increase the City bed tax from the current three percent to five percent, and asked the Mesa City Council to put the bed tax increase on the November 2010 ballot for a public vote. This was approved by voters, this increase will match increases passed by both Tempe and Scottsdale voters in March.

Now that a funding mechanism has been established, the next steps toward a new Chicago Cubs Spring Training facility were site selection and a vote of Mesa residents in November. The November vote was not related to the financing commitment, but was required by Mesa's city charter, which requires approval from citizens for City expenditures on sports and entertainment facilities in excess of $1.5 million. The vote passed in the November 2010 election.