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State likely to fall short on Saints payment
Hotel-motel tax collections are less than needed
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
By Ed Anderson
Capital bureau
BATON ROUGE -- Despite an increase in hotel-motel tax collections in Orleans and Jefferson parishes, the state will likely be more than $9 million short of the $15 million it must pay the Saints when the bill comes due in early July, officials said Tuesday.

David Weidler, the Superdome's senior director of finance and administration, said hotel tax collections totaled $20.16 million through November, compared with slightly more than $16 million collected through the same period in 2003. A portion of the taxes are a major source of financing the Saints' 10-year, $186 million deal, struck in 2001 by Saints owner Tom Benson and then-Gov. Mike Foster to keep the National Football League team in the state.

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