You’ve probably heard something by now about how the owner of the St. Louis Rams is looking to move the team from their current home at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis to a new stadium he’s planning to build in Los Angeles.

In an effort to keep the Rams in Missouri, the governor and the City of St. Louis have begun the process of negotiating a brand new NFL stadium for the Rams. It’s been reported that the project would cost roughly $900 million dollars. While it’s true that approximately half the funds would come from the NFL and the Rams organization, the other half would come from another source. The question is what other source?

The most likely answer: Missouri taxpayers.

The governor’s office has stated it would be well within his authority to extend payments on the existing Edward Jones Dome in order to pay for a new stadium in the hope that it will be enough of an incentive to keep the Rams in St. Louis or even possibly attract a new team.

Two thoughts immediately come to mind: 1) Missouri taxpayers are still paying $24 million a year on the Edward Jones Dome, which was built in 1995 and mostly financed with bonds; and 2) it’s ridiculous that our state’s taxpayers could again be on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars, when the owner of the St. Louis Rams is worth an estimated $6.3 billion and could easily write a check to finance the entire operation—something isn’t quite right with this picture.

But, perhaps, the most frustrating part of this whole debacle is that our governor thinks he, and he alone, can make the decision to put our state hundreds of millions of dollars in debt.

In an attempt to limit the governor’s ability to solely undertake a bonding initiative of this magnitude, Senate Bill 460 was filed and, on Wednesday (3-11), passed out of the Senate Governmental Accountability and Fiscal Oversight Committee. If approved by the Legislature, the measure would prohibit the governor from extending existing bonds or issuing new bonds, including bonds for the St. Louis Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority, without legislative or voter approval.

Obviously, there are thousands upon thousands of devoted Rams fans who want to see their beloved organization stay in St. Louis. And certainly having a professional sports team is a great feather to have in any city’s cap, not to mention a nice little revenue generator. I’m not attempting to dispute or deny any of those statements.

The truth is, for me and for many of my fellow legislators, the issue isn’t about whether or not we’re Rams fans or if we think keeping the Rams in St. Louis is worth a brand new stadium. The issue at hand is about one public servant having the power to put that kind of financial burden on the taxpayers of this state, without a vote from the Legislature or the people. 

The title of my last column was “Your Voice Matters.” This is something I firmly believe in. When it comes to spending such a large amount of taxpayer money, I happen to think it’s the taxpayers’ voice, and their vote, that matters most. Unfortunately, this time around, the governor seems to think the only voice that really matters is his own.