692 Marlins Park Expenses Questioned
By Ashley Hopkins
While the Miami Marlins say they’ve spent $38 million of their $160.2 million share of building a $515 million county-owned baseball stadium, Miami-Dade officials plan to dispute up to 692 expenses now totaling more than $1.68 million and counting.
The Marlins gave the county a 14-page list of $38 million expenses they’ve counted. Jose Galan, program legislation chief for the county’s Internal Services Department, said he’s working with officials from the Owners Perspective, the team’s outside consulting group, to review the payments, comparing the team’s list with available invoices.
Mr. Galan said county officials plan to meet with the Marlins in four to six months to collect more data and discuss which costs don’t conform to contract terms.
While he doesn’t expect project officials to close-out vendor payments until year’s end, Mr. Galan said the county intends to review and dispute charges that shouldn’t be included.
Documents show the county already intends to dispute:
nPayments of $42,431, $50,392, $76,081 and $90,153 to A2 Group, a Miami-based engineering and construction management organization, for construction management services at the Little Havana ballpark’s marketing center.
nA $30,333 and a $10,000 payment to SME INC., a New York-based national branding firm.
nA $27,610 and a $27,159 payment to Hollywood Woodwork, 2951 Pembroke Rd., Hollywood.
Under construction agreements, Miami-Dade is to put $341.3 million into construction and the City of Miami $13.5 million plus build parking.
In exchange for a $35 million bond sale, the team is to pay the county $2.3 million a year, rising 2% yearly, and $750,000 a year to capital reserves, Mr. Galan said.To read the entire issue of Miami Today online, subscribe to e -Miami Today, an exact digital replica of the printed edition.
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