Results are in -- and everyone hates the Dolphins' stadium tax proposal.
Okay, maybe not everyone, but the Miami Herald reports a whopping 73 percent of local voters oppose a tax subsidy for a fancy new roof and other improvements at Sun Life Stadium, according to a new poll.
"There's not one group of likely voter who supports this idea," said Florida International University political science professor Dario Moreno, who conducted the survey for an unnamed private client. "Even in County Commission District 1, where the stadium is, people are overwhelmingly opposed."
The poll stands in stark contrast to a show of support from the Florida Senate's Finance and Tax Appropriations Subcommittee, who unanimously approved a bill Wednesday that would grant a $3 million annual sales tax rebate to help pay for upgrades to the stadium. But the poll numbers could spell serious trouble for the measure, which though approved by the Senate panel still has to make its way through the capitol -- and contains a provision that the matter go to Miami-Dade taxpayers.
Hours after the Herald published the poll results, Dolphins president and CEO Mike Dee slammed it as "a ginned-up poll paid for by a mystery client that goes out of its way to lead people to a negative position."
But according to the Herald, the survey question noted that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross has pledged to pay "at least half" of the estimated $400 million costs. And before Ross made that a announcement last month, a Herald poll in October 2012 found 84 percent of Miami-Dade residents asked were against using tax dollars on the privately-owned stadium.
Read more in the initial report, and Dee's full response, at MiamiHerald.com.
The poll comes on the heels of the franchise's early concession to take the issue to a county-wide referendum. The Dolphins initially tried to avoid a public vote, but announced plans for a referendum after local lawmakers left the stadium improvements off their list of priorities for the current legislative session in Tallahassee.
Also Wednesday, the Tampa Bay Times reported that Florida Governor Rick Scott is requesting additional hurdles to any state tax rebates for the Dolphins, including requiring a state-vetted economic impact study showing a return on investment, Ross committing to matching funds, and more.
