Sharon Mackie of Ballwin stands outside the Sappington Branch Post Office on Thursday collecting a signature from Pat Lederle of Concord Village. (BETH SCHLANKER/P-D)

The group gathering petitions to block St. Louis County tax money from paying for the new Cardinals stadium is nearing its goal for signatures, but questions linger about whether it would stop the county from making annual payments on the bonds it issued to help fund it.

The Coalition Against Public Funding for Stadiums has been collecting signatures since March 2003 but looked unlikely to reach the needed 24,268 signatures until a recent gift allowed the organization to start paying the people who are collecting the petitions.

The gift of $5,000 came from Leo and Kay Drey, well-known environmentalists from University City. They have now given $9,000 to the petition effort, according to filings with the state Ethics Commission.

"I think the citizens should have the right to participate when the county is making a long-term commitment to spending tax money," said Kay Drey.

The County Council approved lending $45 million to the owners of the Cardinals in December. But the issue continues to reverberate through the political races going on now. This week, Dennis Hancock, the Fenton mayor who is running as a Republican for county executive, accused one of his GOP opponents, Kurt Odenwald, of being dishonest about the county's funding of the new stadium.

Odenwald, a council member, voted for lending the money to the Cardinals. It will be repaid using hotel and motel taxes collected in the county. In 2033, the Cardinals are scheduled to repay the county with interest - an estimated total of $148 million - or transfer ownership of the stadium to St. Louis County.

At the time the council passed the bill, Odenwald said the county would be first in line for repayment. However, notes to a new county audit show that the banks and lending institutions making loans on the stadium have priority over the county for repayment.

Odenwald clarified on Wednesday that all the banks should be paid off by 2033, so the county would be first in line to be repaid at that point. The county will not get any money until 2033, and the Cardinals have the option of delaying payments to the county until 2046, if they choose.

Odenwald admitted that the county may not be paid off if the Cardinals go bankrupt and the stadium has no value in 2033.

"No one can guarantee anything," he said. "I am willing to take that chance. I believe in the downtown area."

Hancock said he doubts that the county will ever be repaid.

Hancock, Odenwald and Gene McNary face off against one another in the GOP primary on Aug. 3.

Fred Lindecke, a former Post-Dispatch reporter who is helping lead the petition drive, said about 19,000 signatures had been collected. He plans to turn them in on Aug. 3. The group wants to get the issue on the Nov. 2 ballot.

The petition proposes an amendment to the county charter that would say "no financial assistance may be provided by or on behalf of the county to the development of a professional sports facility" without the approval of voters. St. Louis voters approved a similar measure in 2002.

Lindecke believes the county petition, if approved, would stop county funding for the stadium immediately. Every year, a countywide vote would be required, he said, just to approve repaying the bonds.

However, Jim Baker, chief of staff for County Executive Charlie A. Dooley, said he doesn't believe that would happen.

"I would be very skeptical that a court would agree that after a commitment has already been made by the county, that they would be able to block payments," said Baker.

The official statement that was sent out with the bond prospectus said that if the petitions were filed to force a vote, the county "intends to conduct a thorough investigation to determine whether the petition and the related procedures are in compliance with the law."

If the voters approve the measure, "the determination of the legal impact of such charter amendment may have to be made by the courts," the bond statement says. "The outcome of any such litigation cannot be predicted with certainty."

Reporter Martin Van Der Werf
E-mail: mvanderwerf@post-dispatch.com
Phone: 314-727-6234