What will happen if lawmakers continue to resist is unclear.
JEFFERSON CITY,Cheap Adidas NHL Jerseys, Mo. (AP) — It's unclear whether halting payments for the current St. Louis football stadium, or refusing to make them for a potential new stadium, would hurt the state's high credit rating, a state official told Missouri lawmakers Thursday.
"There may be consequences if that payment isn't met,Wholesale China Jerseys," Nelson said. "That's a term of default."
"I don't think it will hurt our credit rating at all,Jerseys NFL China," Schaaf said.
The uncertainty comes after several legislators vowed to block spending for a new stadium without a vote by the public or the Legislature — a challenge to efforts by Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon and the St. Louis Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority to replace the Edward Jones Dome with hopes to keep the Rams in the city,Wholesale Jerseys 2018. Owner Stan Kroenke is working to move the team to the Los Angeles area.
Office of Administration Commissioner Doug Nelson said while those who bought bonds used for the current dome were informed that payments are subject to legislative approval, refusing to continue payments constitutes defaulting on a state obligation made to the authority. He said he doesn't know whether rating agencies would question that and opt to lower the state's quality credit rating.
Nelson spoke Thursday at a public forum hosted by Republican Sen. Rob Schaaf,Wholesale China Jerseys, one of the most outspoken critics of the plan to use public funding for a stadium. Schaaf said that the state technically is making lease payments, not bond payments, to the sports authority, although the end goal is to pay off bond debt. He suggested the state could refuse to make payments for a new stadium without negative consequences.
An administration spokeswoman later said that the same issue could arise if the state enters into a similar arrangement to help finance a new stadium but lawmakers don't allow the payments, as several have proposed.
Plans outlined in a request for tax credits last week include $135 million from the state to help the sports authority make bond payments for the estimated $998 million stadium. That would be possible, members of Nixon's administration have argued,Wholesale Authentic NFL Jerseys, by extending payments now being made to help pay off the old dome. But both the House and Senate budget chairmen have expressed reluctance to commit the state to more debt.
