MIAMI – If Miami-Dade County Public Schools superintendent Alberto Carvalho gets his way, the fourth largest school district in the nation will have a private-public partnership with one of the biggest soccer celebrities on the planet.
David Beckham and his company, Beckham United, have their sights set on a piece of land adjacent to Marlins Park, where they want to build a 30,000-seat soccer stadium. Most of the land is owned by the city of Miami, a little is owned by the county and some are private parcels.
At Thursday's informational school board meeting, Carvalho said he has already had meetings with city of Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado and Beckham United representatives to look into having the city transfer land needed for a new Major League Soccer stadium into the district’s name. This would allow Beckham's team to not pay taxes on the property.
The city would get an $850,000 management fee over the next 60 years. On Thursday, the board unanimously agreed to let Carvalho explore the idea.
This is an end around on the county because, under the current proposal, the land is not on the tax rolls. It is already exempt and the team would not have to pay taxes on it.
"What I'm trying to do is create a benefit via our participation that would provide minimally what we would have been provided in terms of tax benefit," Carvalho said.
Among Carvalho's wish list is an onsite educational center for sports management and medicine, and use of the stadium for graduations, marching bands, ROTC practice and high school football bowl games.
Carvalho is also seeking financial support for music, arts and athletic programs.
If Carvalho can broker a deal, it needs to be done by the end of the year so it can go on a referendum next March. Voters will then have the final say in the matter.
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