August 7, 2026 • 12 mins
Ryan talks with Tampa Mayor Jane Castor about Rays ballpark negotiations, how the city would fund a new stadium, and the potential impact of the property tax amendment on city services including police and fire.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Ryan Gorman Show podcast presented by Farah and Farah
Accident Attorneys, Tampa.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
And I'm joined now by Tampa Mayor Jane Caster. Mayor Caster,
it's great to have you back on the show. Got
a couple of things I want to ask you about,
and let me start with the Ray's ballpark issue. I
know negotiations still underway. Things are being discussed behind the scenes,
but the general framework of the deal as it stands
right now, are you comfortable moving forward with it? Do
(00:30):
you think it's a good deal.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Well, we're continuing to negotiate, so the goal clearly is
to have a deal that's equitable for everyone. You know,
it's a good deal for the Ray's organization, good deal
for the city of the county and the taxpayers. And
so we continue to negotiate, and with any good negotiation,
(00:51):
there's compromise in there, and so I think everybody's headed
in the right direction and I am very hopeful that
we will have a deal that keeps the Tampa Bay
Rays in our community.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Have you seen the detailed breakdown of how this ballpark
came to end up being two point three billion dollars?
Because I haven't seen anything and I'm just wondering how
it became a billion dollars more than what was supposed
to just you know a few years ago on the
Penela side of the way. And that matters because that
(01:27):
adds to the taxpayer costs, right.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Without a doubt, that does add to the taxpayer costs.
And that's something that Kim Babbie and I from the
very beginning had those discussions where you know, his position
was that the Rays were putting in over half of
the cost of a stadium. I said, but it's half
of a cost state of a stadium that's doubled in price,
and so it is. It is a state of the
(01:51):
art baseball stadium. I can't say that I have had
a look at it from the engineer's standpoint, but it
is definitely a state of the art stadium and would
be an incredible asset to our community. But again, we
(02:12):
are focused on ensuring that this is a good deal
all the way around, and I've said that from the
very beginning. You know, we continue to meet with the Rays,
have done that literally in some instances, seven days a week,
and along with the county and TSA and everybody trying
to reach an agreement that is in the best interest
(02:39):
of everybody involved.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Have you seen how the Rays would finance their part
of this project or gotten any information on that.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Well, obviously it would be a great deal of it
would be bonded, but you know they're actual financials, not
that they haven't shared the detail with us, but we
have been focused on more of the elements of an
equitable agreement and not necessarily how they would you know,
(03:10):
how they would structure their their bonding system. But we
have moved from the idea of a CRA the Drew
Park cr being involved, to the possibility of having aft
a tiff with oversight from a cd D. So kind
of the same thing, tax incremental funding that would come
(03:34):
from the property taxes raised in that area, A percentage
would that would be overseen by a cd D, so
just a different form than the original community redevelopment idea.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
We're joined by Tampa Mayor Jane Caster talking about the
race Ballpark issue. Do we know who they're partnering with
to develop the mixed use for and do we have
a breakdown of you know, how many housing units, how
many office units, things like that are going to be
part of that mixed use development?
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Yes, what those discussions have been ongoing as far as
the particular developer, I don't believe that they've actually on
a specific person or group or organization, but there has
been a great deal of talk of, you know, how
many square feet of development and then the actual density
(04:29):
within that area and the elements that will make it up,
you know, sort of a mixed use that you see
in Battery part up in Atlanta. That's really what they're
they're aiming for, is uh is a development that looks
somewhat like the Battery in Atlanta, which has been very successful.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
How concerned are you about the property tax amendment and
allocating this kind of money to this ballpark plan with
the possibility that you might have a decrease in revenues
if the amendment passes in November.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
Right, Yeah, I hear you on that, and that obviously
is a huge consideration. I mean, I just presented our
budget to city Council and in essence, it's in a
holding pattern right now until we do find out definitively
on the property tax amendment, which I hope people will
(05:28):
educate themselves on before they go into the voting booth
and check a box because that has some devastating consequences
for our community. But with that said, we're looking at
the possibility of reduction and property tax. Well, this particular
(05:50):
development will provide a pretty substantial increase in property taxes
in that area. So we're very mindful of the implications
of the property tax. And that's just one of a
myriad of elements that go into, you know, into these
(06:10):
negotiations and the hopeful crafting of an agreement.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Should we be making a deal, finalizing a deal before
that vote is taken in November.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
I don't know that it really. I mean, you can
argue the elements one way or the other. That here
we are looking at putting a large amount of our
tourist taxes going to it, and while the county you know,
controls that portion of it, a great deal of that
(06:41):
tourist tax comes from within the city limits, from the
conferences and conventions that that we host, so that particular
amount wouldn't come from the the property tax obviously. And
then looking at the Unity Investment tax, there is a
(07:02):
portion in there that is allocated to sports stadiums and
what they're the Rays are looking at now we conservatively
estimate a three percent year over year gain in that
community investment tax and what the rays are looking at
or are those funds that come in that are above
(07:24):
the three percent. So don't want to get too deep
in the weeds here, but we're not looking at property
tax building a stadium, but we are looking at property
tax that would be generated from the development associated with
the stadium. So it's a concern. I'm not trying to
(07:47):
minimize it in any way, but it again is just
another one of the myriad of elements that we are
focusing on in the crafting of the agreement.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
We're joined by Tampa may Or Janecaster here on the
Ryan Gorman Show. So let's talk about the property tax amendment.
You mentioned. It could have devastating effects on the city
of Tampa. I can tell you right now a lot
of people that listen to the show, they have been
very outspoken to me about the fact that they're voting
for it, and they think that local governments need to
(08:23):
do the basic services and get rid of the waste
and that should cover the difference. What do you say
to them.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Well, what I would say is, please encourage your listeners
to become educated on this. Lorida is one of the
lowest tax states in the United States. And we like
to think that people are moving here businesses and individuals
are moving here at a rapid rate because it's such
a wonderful place to live, which is true, but they
(08:56):
also come here because of the incredibly tax implications. We
already have the nineteen ninety six Save our Homes, which
you only pay three percent increase in property taxes regardless
of the increase and value of your home. And the
(09:16):
property tax that we bring in for the City of
Tampa doesn't even cover our first responders, police and fire.
Not to mention are two hundred parts that are always
high on our surveys with our community. So people need
to understand that paving, we won't have the funding for paving,
(09:37):
we won't have the funding for our facilities maintenance, we
won't have the funding for our parts, and we won't
have the funding for our police and fire. There are
going to be other fees and assessments that are going
to have to be charged if the community wants to
continue the stellar services that the City of Tampa team provides.
(10:02):
I hear individuals, you know, a two billion dollar budget,
you can find waste in there. But I would encourage
everyone to go to Tampa dot gov and look at
the line by line budget that we provide every year.
We are incredibly focused on being good stewards of the
tax dollar, and I would submit that we do a
(10:24):
great job. And the majority of the funding in our
general or the majority of our budget funding in the
general fund, comes from property taxes, and if that is
reduced through this amendment, there's going to be some consequences
that I don't think people are going to be happy with.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Do you see potential cuts to police, fire first responders
without a doubt?
Speaker 3 (10:53):
And there's currently a state statute that says that you
can't reduce funding for law enforcement, which is factual, But
we just signed a three year contract with fire and police,
so they have contractual raises every year, and so that
would mean that we wouldn't have layoffs, but we wouldn't
(11:13):
be hiring at the rate that we are. And we're
probably one of them only law enforcement agencies nationwide that
is fully staffed, and we actually in some instances overstaff
to anticipate retirements because you can't just hire a police
officer and put them out on the street the next day.
(11:34):
It takes one to two years to get officers fully
functioning safely out on the streets. And you can imagine
the reasons for that. There's a great deal of training
that goes into law enforcement officers.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Tampa Mayor Janecaster with us talking about the race ballpark
issue and the property tax amendment. Mayor Caster, always appreciate
the time. Thanks, I'm sure coming back on.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Hey.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
It's always great to talk to your Ryan and any
questions that you have. I know you got my cell phone.
Give me a call. Any questions from your listeners. I'll
be happy to come back on anytime.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
I really appreciate that. Mayor, thanks so much.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Thanks us and live to the Ryan Gorman Show on
iHeartRadio every weekday morning on WIOD and Miami, w f
LA and Tampa. Presented by Farah and Farah Accident Attorneys, Tampa,
The Ryan Gorman Show podcast presented by Farah and Farah
Accident Attorneys, Tampa.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
And I'm joined now by Tampa Mayor Jane Caster. Mayor Caster,
it's great to have you back on the show. Got
a couple of things I want to ask you about,
and let me start with the Ray's ballpark issue. I
know negotiations still underway. Things are being discussed behind the scenes,
but the general framework of the deal as it stands
right now, are you comfortable moving forward with it? Do
(00:30):
you think it's a good deal.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Well, we're continuing to negotiate, so the goal clearly is
to have a deal that's equitable for everyone. You know,
it's a good deal for the Ray's organization, good deal
for the city of the county and the taxpayers. And
so we continue to negotiate, and with any good negotiation,
(00:51):
there's compromise in there, and so I think everybody's headed
in the right direction and I am very hopeful that
we will have a deal that keeps the Tampa Bay
Rays in our community.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Have you seen the detailed breakdown of how this ballpark
came to end up being two point three billion dollars?
Because I haven't seen anything and I'm just wondering how
it became a billion dollars more than what was supposed
to just you know a few years ago on the
Penela side of the way. And that matters because that
(01:27):
adds to the taxpayer costs, right.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Without a doubt, that does add to the taxpayer costs.
And that's something that Kim Babbie and I from the
very beginning had those discussions where you know, his position
was that the Rays were putting in over half of
the cost of a stadium. I said, but it's half
of a cost state of a stadium that's doubled in price,
and so it is. It is a state of the
(01:51):
art baseball stadium. I can't say that I have had
a look at it from the engineer's standpoint, but it
is definitely a state of the art stadium and would
be an incredible asset to our community. But again, we
(02:12):
are focused on ensuring that this is a good deal
all the way around, and I've said that from the
very beginning. You know, we continue to meet with the Rays,
have done that literally in some instances, seven days a week,
and along with the county and TSA and everybody trying
to reach an agreement that is in the best interest
(02:39):
of everybody involved.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Have you seen how the Rays would finance their part
of this project or gotten any information on that.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Well, obviously it would be a great deal of it
would be bonded, but you know they're actual financials, not
that they haven't shared the detail with us, but we
have been focused on more of the elements of an
equitable agreement and not necessarily how they would you know,
(03:10):
how they would structure their their bonding system. But we
have moved from the idea of a CRA the Drew
Park cr being involved, to the possibility of having aft
a tiff with oversight from a cd D. So kind
of the same thing, tax incremental funding that would come
(03:34):
from the property taxes raised in that area, A percentage
would that would be overseen by a cd D, so
just a different form than the original community redevelopment idea.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
We're joined by Tampa Mayor Jane Caster talking about the
race Ballpark issue. Do we know who they're partnering with
to develop the mixed use for and do we have
a breakdown of you know, how many housing units, how
many office units, things like that are going to be
part of that mixed use development?
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Yes, what those discussions have been ongoing as far as
the particular developer, I don't believe that they've actually on
a specific person or group or organization, but there has
been a great deal of talk of, you know, how
many square feet of development and then the actual density
(04:29):
within that area and the elements that will make it up,
you know, sort of a mixed use that you see
in Battery part up in Atlanta. That's really what they're
they're aiming for, is uh is a development that looks
somewhat like the Battery in Atlanta, which has been very successful.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
How concerned are you about the property tax amendment and
allocating this kind of money to this ballpark plan with
the possibility that you might have a decrease in revenues
if the amendment passes in November.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
Right, Yeah, I hear you on that, and that obviously
is a huge consideration. I mean, I just presented our
budget to city Council and in essence, it's in a
holding pattern right now until we do find out definitively
on the property tax amendment, which I hope people will
(05:28):
educate themselves on before they go into the voting booth
and check a box because that has some devastating consequences
for our community. But with that said, we're looking at
the possibility of reduction and property tax. Well, this particular
(05:50):
development will provide a pretty substantial increase in property taxes
in that area. So we're very mindful of the implications
of the property tax. And that's just one of a
myriad of elements that go into, you know, into these
(06:10):
negotiations and the hopeful crafting of an agreement.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Should we be making a deal, finalizing a deal before
that vote is taken in November.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
I don't know that it really. I mean, you can
argue the elements one way or the other. That here
we are looking at putting a large amount of our
tourist taxes going to it, and while the county you know,
controls that portion of it, a great deal of that
(06:41):
tourist tax comes from within the city limits, from the
conferences and conventions that that we host, so that particular
amount wouldn't come from the the property tax obviously. And
then looking at the Unity Investment tax, there is a
(07:02):
portion in there that is allocated to sports stadiums and
what they're the Rays are looking at now we conservatively
estimate a three percent year over year gain in that
community investment tax and what the rays are looking at
or are those funds that come in that are above
(07:24):
the three percent. So don't want to get too deep
in the weeds here, but we're not looking at property
tax building a stadium, but we are looking at property
tax that would be generated from the development associated with
the stadium. So it's a concern. I'm not trying to
(07:47):
minimize it in any way, but it again is just
another one of the myriad of elements that we are
focusing on in the crafting of the agreement.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
We're joined by Tampa may Or Janecaster here on the
Ryan Gorman Show. So let's talk about the property tax amendment.
You mentioned. It could have devastating effects on the city
of Tampa. I can tell you right now a lot
of people that listen to the show, they have been
very outspoken to me about the fact that they're voting
for it, and they think that local governments need to
(08:23):
do the basic services and get rid of the waste
and that should cover the difference. What do you say
to them.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Well, what I would say is, please encourage your listeners
to become educated on this. Lorida is one of the
lowest tax states in the United States. And we like
to think that people are moving here businesses and individuals
are moving here at a rapid rate because it's such
a wonderful place to live, which is true, but they
(08:56):
also come here because of the incredibly tax implications. We
already have the nineteen ninety six Save our Homes, which
you only pay three percent increase in property taxes regardless
of the increase and value of your home. And the
(09:16):
property tax that we bring in for the City of
Tampa doesn't even cover our first responders, police and fire.
Not to mention are two hundred parts that are always
high on our surveys with our community. So people need
to understand that paving, we won't have the funding for paving,
(09:37):
we won't have the funding for our facilities maintenance, we
won't have the funding for our parts, and we won't
have the funding for our police and fire. There are
going to be other fees and assessments that are going
to have to be charged if the community wants to
continue the stellar services that the City of Tampa team provides.
(10:02):
I hear individuals, you know, a two billion dollar budget,
you can find waste in there. But I would encourage
everyone to go to Tampa dot gov and look at
the line by line budget that we provide every year.
We are incredibly focused on being good stewards of the
tax dollar, and I would submit that we do a
(10:24):
great job. And the majority of the funding in our
general or the majority of our budget funding in the
general fund, comes from property taxes, and if that is
reduced through this amendment, there's going to be some consequences
that I don't think people are going to be happy with.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Do you see potential cuts to police, fire first responders
without a doubt?
Speaker 3 (10:53):
And there's currently a state statute that says that you
can't reduce funding for law enforcement, which is factual, But
we just signed a three year contract with fire and police,
so they have contractual raises every year, and so that
would mean that we wouldn't have layoffs, but we wouldn't
(11:13):
be hiring at the rate that we are. And we're
probably one of them only law enforcement agencies nationwide that
is fully staffed, and we actually in some instances overstaff
to anticipate retirements because you can't just hire a police
officer and put them out on the street the next day.
(11:34):
It takes one to two years to get officers fully
functioning safely out on the streets. And you can imagine
the reasons for that. There's a great deal of training
that goes into law enforcement officers.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Tampa Mayor Janecaster with us talking about the race ballpark
issue and the property tax amendment. Mayor Caster, always appreciate
the time. Thanks, I'm sure coming back on.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Hey.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
It's always great to talk to your Ryan and any
questions that you have. I know you got my cell phone.
Give me a call. Any questions from your listeners. I'll
be happy to come back on anytime.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
I really appreciate that. Mayor, thanks so much.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Thanks us and live to the Ryan Gorman Show on
iHeartRadio every weekday morning on WIOD and Miami, w f
LA and Tampa. Presented by Farah and Farah Accident Attorneys, Tampa,
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