Tampa City Council voted 4-3 last Thursday to approve a community benefits agreement with the owners of the Tampa Bay Rays, but not without objection from community leaders who had issues with the rushed timeline.
The city is giving $80 million of taxpayer money to the team to go toward funding the new stadium. As a condition, the Rays are supposed to provide an eventual $21 million worth of benefits to the city.
Under the agreement, $4.2 million of that should be delivered in the next five years. The Rays are required to provide 70% of that—about $3 million—in direct cash spending towards several categories…