Rancho Cordova Considers Contributing To Arena Project
RANCHO CORDOVA (CBS13) - On the eve of the Sacramento council vote whether to put $255 million city dollars into an arena financing plan, suddenly another city is considering offering its money.
The City Council for Rancho Cordova - small but sound with nine straight years in the black and a $12 million reserve - voted 4-0 on Monday in favor of a resolution aimed at helping with the arena project.
The city hasn't committed any specific dollars to the project yet, but rather will explore some sort of partnership with Sacramento. The language of the resolution reads that the City Council authorizes the "City Manager of the City of Rancho Cordova to commence discussions with leadership in the region on how the City of Rancho Cordova can encourage the development of a regional entertainment and sports complex (arena)."
"It is clearly a regional civic asset," Councilwoman Linda Budge said.
Rancho Cordova and Sacramento County are now the only two local governments outside the city of Sacramento considering a financial assist to build the arena.
Early efforts to build regional financial support were quickly ended by Mayor Kevin Johnson's arena task force.
"We know that the public was not supportive of a regional tax, and we knew we didn't want to do a tax of any kind, so we focused on the parking," said Think Big project manager Jeremiah Jackson of the plan to help fund the arena by leasing out the city's parking spaces to a private company.
Reaction in Rancho Cordova was critical.
"No, if you're going to put (money into) something, put it in the school districts," Jennifer LeDoux said. "Put it in the schools in Rancho Cordova. They need it."
"It's Sacramento Kings, not Rancho Cordova Kings," said another opponent of the idea, Daniel DeAnza.
Nevertheless, the council voted to move forward exploring how it can help in the arena efforts.
