A key piece of public funding is coming into place for planned renovations to Portland’s Moda Center, home of the Trail Blazers, but there’s plenty more work to be done.
The Multnomah County Board of Commissioners approved late Thursday by a 4–1 vote a term sheet that would provide up to $101.6 million to help upgrade the 31-year-old, publicly owned building. The measure, an increase from $88 million originally proposed in the spring, is not a final funding package, and is instead a framework to begin formal discussions with the Blazers and city of Portland.
It is designed, however, to provide a definitive statement of intent in what has been a fractious issue for months involving the public officials and Blazers owner Tom Dundon.
“I want this step today to be seen by the NBA and its board of governors to know just how serious we are about keeping the Blazers here in Portland,” said county chair Jessica Vega Pederson.
She made a similar plea on Wednesday before the Portland city council as it heard hours of public testimony as it considers a separate, $120 million share of funding toward a Moda Center project costing nearly $600 million. The state legislature has already appropriated $365 million.
The funding debate has remained tense, particularly as the Portland area grapples with a variety of other public needs, and Dundon has been insistent he does not intend to help pay for the renovations.
The city is set to vote next week on a non-binding term sheet for its arena funding, and while passage there is likely, getting to a final deal this fall is expected to be an arduous process .
Also critically left unresolved in the county’s move is exactly how that jurisdiction will fund its share of the project. Even with the vote to continue negotiations, a specific source for that money is uncertain—potential sources include rental car taxes and taxes from the sale of the Blazers to Dundon.
“How real is this commitment for money, if we can’t agree on a way to fund it?,” said county commissioner Meghan Moyer, the lone dissenting vote.
