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Broward auditor: $7.7M county loan to Panthers is “lopsided, misleading”

More local squabbling – with increasingly harsh rhetoric – over the Florida Panthers‘ latest loan request to Broward County for further upgrading of the BAC. From the Sun-Sentinel’s Brittany Wallman:

The county is poised to lend the National Hockey League club’s sister company $7.7 million to renovate the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise. But the proposed deal is “lopsided,’’ “misleading,’’ an “illusion’’ put before taxpayers, County Auditor Evan Lukic said.

“It is really, really troubling,’’ Lukic said in an interview Tuesday. “This is not a good deal.’’

Lukic’s biting financial analysis derailed a County Commission vote last week on the loan, and provided fresh fodder for the debate about whether Broward’s subsidy of a professional hockey franchise has been a good deal for taxpayers.

Lots more on the history of the club’s past dealings with Broward, including current political misgivings over what got them to this point, via the Sentinel.

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