Court to hear challenge to Braves stadium financing

ATLANTA (AP) -- The Georgia Supreme Court is set to hear arguments Tuesday in an appeal of a lower court ruling on financing for the new Braves baseball stadium in Cobb County.<br /> <br /> Three Cobb County residents opposed the authorization of the bonds, arguing the bonds required taxpayer approval. A Cobb County Superior Court judge in July validated the bonds, ruling that no public referendum was necessary.<br /> <br /> The three residents - attorney T. Tucker Hobgood, Larry Savage and Richard Pellegrino - have appealed the judge's ruling to the Supreme Court.<br /> <br /> The new stadium, which is to be built near the interchange of interstates 285 and 75 is to be a public-private partnership with an estimated cost of $622 million. The Cobb County Board of Commissioners in May approved the issuance of up to $397 million in bonds by the Cobb-Marietta Coliseum and Exhibit Hall Authority to fund the public share of building the new stadium.<br /> <br /> The three residents argue that the judge's ruling validating the bonds was incorrect. Included in their arguments are claims that the agreement between the county and the authority is not a valid intergovernmental agreement, that the project improperly uses public tax revenue for a private facility and that the bonds can't be approved without a referendum.<br /> <br /> "The power of local government bodies to bind their constituents to long-term debt without `the assent of a majority of qualified voters' for a non-public project like this professional baseball stadium is at the heart of this case," Hobgood and another attorney wrote in a brief. "There are not only statutory prohibitions against `any county, municipality, or political subdivision' incurring debt, bonded or not, without an election, but also a constitutional one."<br /> <br /> Lawyers for the county and the authority argue that the judge was correct in validating the bonds because they "are secured by a pledge of payments under a valid intergovernmental contract, and neither the bonds nor the intergovernmental agreement payments constitute debt for purposes of the debt clause."<br /> <br /> The lawyers for the county and authority also argue that the bonds and payment obligations in the agreement do not involve the use of public money to improve private property.<br /> <br /> The Braves announced in November 2013 that they would be leaving Turner Field, near downtown Atlanta, for a new stadium to be built in Cobb County once their current lease expires. The team plans to begin playing in the new stadium for the 2017 season.