44% is the magic number for Hamilton City Council and its tax payers.

After a long day debating in the Council Chambers, Council passed the motion to contribute 44% instead of the $45 million that they originally wanted to cap for the Pan Am stadium. In order to get the other 56% from the provincial and federal governments meaning the city can’t cap their $45 million dollar offer because it us unknown what that 44% will cost. The Tiger-Cats have allocated $3 million to the project which is something on the table that wasn’t’ there before, the only question is, how much is that 44% going to be? Many Councillors are feeling uneasy of the pressure of voting for a stadium project without knowing the exact numbers. More information is supposed to be available to them over the weekend in regards to funding and money.  The city has proposed adding $6.5 million to the stadium from the regular budget, which isn’t the future fund, but it’s still tax dollars.  The GM of finance Rob Rossini, said that the actual cost of the stadium won’t be known until February 2012, and that after Monday’s deadline, if council accepts the deal, they can risk getting sued if they wanted to back out. Councillor Chad Collins brought up the idea of an exit clause if the price tag balloons to something the city can’t afford to Chris Murray, who assured him he will find the answers to that question after the meeting.

 Council then when into an “in camera” meeting for about 3.5 hours to discuss the terms of the deal with the Tiger-Cats. When they came out the motion of the 44% contribution was passed with Clark, Pearson, Johnson and Powers opposing it.  Several councillors have openly suggested that the support from upper levels of government isn’t quite there yet, but will wait to see if the province will step up over the weekend. The deadline for Council’s decision is on Monday February 1^st, the deadline to submit a plan to HOSTCO.