PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — After years of discourse, studies and votes, the Tampa Bay Rays will have funding for a new baseball stadium from Pinellas County.

This comes after the Pinellas County commissioners on Tuesday approved their portion of the funding that will go toward building a new ballpark in the Gas Plant District.

The vote was 5-2 in favor of the deal that has sparked conversations and debate for months among economic leaders and residents in Pinellas County, with many of them coming to Tuesday afternoon’s meeting to discuss their stance on the project.

Commissioners Kathleen Peters, Brian Scott, Janet Long, Rene Flowers and Charlie Justice voted in favor of the deal. Dave Eggers and Chris Latvala voted against.

Public comment went on for over an hour, with a stark divide between people speaking to the commission.

With the approval, the county will contribute roughly $313 million through a bed tax, or tourist tax, to the $1.3 billion project. This follows the City of St. Petersburg’s support as well, after they approved their portion of the project earlier in July.

“You wanna pinch me?” St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch asked, laughing.

“Feels great. We’ve been working on this for a very long time,” said Tampa Bay Rays Co-President Brian Auld.

Commissioners who voted in favor of the contribution said it was an opportunity the county couldn’t pass up.

“I think this is a great day,” said Peters, the board’s chair.

“We’re talking about 30 years of true economic impact in a community that has not necessarily received all of the benefits of some of the growth and development that has occurred around the community,” said Flowers.

“The Rays are part of the fabric of not only St. Pete, Pinellas County, but also the Tampa Bay region,” said Scott. 

A frequent criticism St. Petersburg City Council members heard in the lead-up to their votes on funding the project — the city’s share is $417.5 million — was that public money could be better spent on other issues important to residents, like affordable housing. Commissioners said that wasn’t a possibility in the case of the bed tax.

“That money is so restricted that we can only use it for tourism things, but the money generated from this development will generate unrestricted dollars that will allow us to use it for law enforcement, for roads, for bridges,” said Peters.

Not all members were as optimistic about the project.

“Our taxpayers deserved a better deal,” Latvala said.

He told Spectrum News while the board’s focus Tuesday was the bed tax; he has concerns about the overall project.

“I had a lot of concerns - not just with how much money that we would be spending, which, if we finance it over 30 years, that’s going to be over $600 million, but also the redevelopment part and what the Rays can do with all of that land and the fact that they’re getting it for a couple hundred million dollars less than it’s appraised for,” Latvala said.

According to the city of St. Petersburg, the redevelopment is expected to bring in $6 billion in investment and will be the largest development in Tampa Bay history. The plan also secures a new home for the Rays, whose lease at the Trop expires in 2007.

“We’ve been committed, and no one more so than Stuart Sternberg, I’ll add, to figuring out a way to keep the Rays in Tampa Bay for a very long time,” said Auld. “As a St. Petersburg resident myself, I’m thrilled that we’ve landed in St. Petersburg, and I’m thrilled that we’ve landed at the exact site where we began this entire journey.”

Construction is expected to begin next year.