Richmond City Council voted Monday to refinance a 2013 loan for the Washington Redskins’ training camp facility a few months before it was set to default, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.
The city will now refinance the loan over the next 15 years and pay $750,000 a year out of the taxpayer-financed general fund. The loan was going to default in September.
The council is preparing its fiscal year 2019 budget, and there were calls to include $8.6 million in that budget to represent the remaining balance on the loan the city must pay off.
“This is a rock and a hard place,” Council President Chris Hilbert said. “This is a distasteful decision, and we’re going to have to make the best of our ugly options.”
The council passed the refinancing measure 6-3.
The Redskins have held their training camp at Richmond’s Bon Secours Training Center since 2013. Before that, they typically stayed at their Redskins Park headquarters in Ashburn, Virginia. Richmond already gives the Redskins $500,000 worth of cash, goods and services each year it practices in the city.
• Adam Zielonka can be reached at azielonka@washingtontimes.com.
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