A planned 450-million-dollar renovation to the Ceasars’ Superdome in the Big Easy is at least temporarily hobbled financially. The state has only committed two-point-five-million of 90-million dollars in funding for the project, leaving State Treasurer John Schroder looking for direction from the legislature. “Do they want to invest $90 million into what I consider to be an iconic state property in the city of New Orleans?” is the question that Schroder says lawmakers need to answer.
He says so far there’s no definitive answer to that question, though the door was left open earlier by the Edwards administration to funnel that much state money into the project.
Schroder says it’s been difficult on the Superdome funding issue for a variety of reasons, including whether the facility is even a state asset. He says, “no we can’t even come up with a consensus that it’s a state asset, you hear the term political subdivision used a lot.”
Schroder says that although the 90-million-dollars isn’t needed just yet from the state for the Superdome upgrades, the clock is ticking before the project may have to be scaled back due to the possible decrease in state funding. “They need to plan for this. It’s been going on for almost three years; it’s time to stop toying around with it and ultimately give them some direction,” said Schroder.
Comments