Madrid Opposes County Taxes to Help Build Chargers Stadium in San Diego

The San Diego Chargers once made their home in La Mesa (as far as workouts), but Mayor Art Madrid isn’t letting nostalgia cloud his feelings about the idea of taxing county residents to retain the NFL team.

Supporters of a new Chargers stadium “want to tax people who can’t even afford to go to the football games,” Madrid told the North County Times in a story posted Saturday.

“It’s convenient to use the term ‘regional’ when it's for a special interest,” the paper quoted Madrid as saying.

The North County Times reported that county Supervisors Ron Roberts and Dianne Jacob “have been quietly meeting with San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders about using county tax dollars to build a new Chargers stadium in downtown San Diego’s East Village.”

Jacob—who represents the East County, including La Mesa—told the paper she and Roberts have made no financial commitments to Sanders during eight private meetings on the stadium topic since November 2009.

Jacob was quoted as saying: “I’ve made it very clear to the mayor and to my constituents, too, that if there's any county involvement in this, that it’s a good investment for county taxpayers. I think the city [of San Diego] wants us to be a financial partner. What the city wants and what the county will do, likely are different things.”