Mpls Mayor On Vikings Stadium: Let's Just Get It Done

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Mayor R.T. Rybak is among those calling for a vote on the stadium bill.

"We've gone from something that seems difficult, leaning toward unlikely, into something that is difficult and likely," Rybak said.

He urged lawmakers Sunday to put politics aside and focus on the stadium.

"Let's come together as Minnesotans to solve one of the longest running problems we've had in Minnesota," he said.

Rybak understands that trading goes on at the end of a legislative session. But he said lawmakers have collectively solved the stadium problem, and now is the time to vote on it.

"We can stick it into the morass of all this other stuff going on, and then it gets complicated," he said. "So I just think they should solve it."

Rybak said the current plan has no state general fund dollars, no property tax from the city and that it would in fact lower property taxes in Minneapolis.

However, it remains to be seen if there will be a vote on the bill.

Monday has long been circled on the Minnesota Legislature's calendar as the final day. Now Republican leaders are giving themselves more wiggle room.

House Speaker Kurt Zellers said Saturday that he's willing to hold the session open into May if agreements can be worked out on a tax-cut package, a construction finance bill and a Vikings stadium.

Back in December, the Republican leader set April 30 as the hard-and-fast deadline. The Legislature has the power to go into mid-May and lawmakers usually take all the time allotted to them.