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Glendale Mayor Scruggs you are a finger pointing idiot!!! All of Glendale's NHL problems were caused by YOU and the other crooks on the Glendale city council!!!!
Glendale mayor: NHL held city 'hostage' over Coyotes sale by Cecilia Chan - Apr. 4, 2012 02:26 PM The Republic | azcentral.com Glendale Mayor Elaine Scruggs this week blamed the National Hockey League and city administrators for the unresolved sale of the Phoenix Coyotes, which has the city mired in financial woes. Scruggs on Tuesday again brought up asking the NHL for a break on a $25 million IOU. The league, which purchased the Phoenix Coyotes at a bankruptcy court auction in 2009, has been managing the team and city-owned arena until an owner willing to keep the team in Glendale can be found. The city paid $25 million to the NHL during the 2010-11 season and pledged another $25 million for the current season, which is expected to come due in May. To fulfill that pledge, the city put $20 million in escrow and still needs to come up with $5 million. The hefty payouts have nearly drained the city's reserves, leading to a recent drop in the city's bond rating. And the city is looking at a deficit next fiscal year that one councilwoman has estimated could reach $30 million. A possible sales-tax hike, furloughs and program cuts are on the table to close the spending gap. The city and NHL began working together even before former Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes filed the team into bankruptcy three years ago. The city helped the NHL fend off a deal it opposed to move the team to Hamilton, Ontario. The league committed to finding a local buyer, which would save Glendale from trying to pay the debt on its hockey arena without its main tenant. Frustration has built as an ownership deal has proven elusive. During Tuesday's budget talks, Scruggs asked council members to join her in signing a letter to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman to "release us from that $20 million in escrow and let us pay over time." None of the councilmembers responded to her request. Councilman Manny Martinez later told The Republic he would "have to think about it in light of what is going on." Scruggs said if the city can get back the $20 million from escrow and pay the NHL an initial $5 million, "our problems and everything our employees are fearful of would pretty much go away." The mayor said she and four others councilmembers pledged the second payout last May because city staff and NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said a deal with a team owner was nearly complete and that "we should never have to pay that $25 million." Scruggs said the city was told the money was just a place holder so that the NHL wouldn't move the team out of Glendale. "Given the stress that our budget is under, there should be a payment plan developed," Scruggs said. "They have no right to that money. They held us hostage for a year." She said the NHL never intended to do business with Chicago businessman Matt Hulsizer, who wanted to buy the team but walked away from the negotiation table in frustration just weeks after the council pledged the second payment to the NHL. The Hulsizer deal, which required the city to sell bonds, generated concerns. The Goldwater Institute alleged it was an illegal gift of taxpayer money to a private business. Since then, city officials have repeatedly said a sale was nearing completion, by the start of the season and then by the end of the year. A deal remains incomplete as the Coyotes this week played their last regular season home game. Scruggs said the NHL last spring "misled us and they can't do this to our city." She added, "I don't know if they will charge me with slander. This is how I feel. How long have we fiddled around with these people ... four years?" City Manager Ed Beasley said he took the mayor's request for a payment plan, which she first mentioned in February, to Bettman. The commissioner is taking it under advisement and "will consider what he will do at the right time," Beasley said. Deputy Commissioner Daly has not yet responded to The Republic's questions on the mayor's request. Daly continues to say the NHL is committed to keeping the Coyotes in Glendale despite other cities interest in hosting the team. |