Raiders stadium in Las Vegas would cost millions more with GOP tax plan

Raiders fans watch a game between the Oakland Raiders and the Indiana Colts in on Dec. 24, 2016. The Raiders’ planned stadium in Las Vegas could get more expensive under the GOP tax plan, which would eliminate exemptions for stadium bonds. less Raiders fans watch a game between the Oakland Raiders and the Indiana Colts in on Dec. 24, 2016. The Raiders’ planned stadium in Las Vegas could get more expensive under the GOP tax plan, which would ... more Photo: Gabrielle Lurie, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Gabrielle Lurie, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Raiders stadium in Las Vegas would cost millions more with GOP tax plan 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Las Vegas and the Raiders may have to pay millions more a year than expected for their new stadium if the Republican tax plan is approved, Nevada officials said Thursday.

Clark County stadium officials said the additional annual cost of $3 million wouldn’t be enough to derail the plans for their $1.9 billion, 65,000-seat domed stadium, but several members of the state’s congressional delegation have said they are already working to secure an exemption for the project.

Under the House version of the bill, any new bonds issued for professional stadiums would no longer be exempt from federal taxes — a provision the NFL team and local leaders in Nevada had banked on when they drew up financial plans for the project. But they said at the Stadium Authority meeting Thursday in Las Vegas there was enough wiggle room in their model to handle the extra cost.

“It’s a meaningful amount of money,” said Steve Hill, chairman of the authority board and director of Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval’s Office of Economic Development. “It is frankly, I don’t think, enough to jeopardize the project moving forward.”

Greater-than-expected revenue from a hotel room tax — which guarantees payment on the bonds — plus an accounting by stadium planners for variations in interest rates mean the development can move forward as expected. A groundbreaking ceremony Monday will happen as planned, said team President Marc Badain.

Badain said he is already trying to bring a future Super Bowl and the FIFA World Cup to Las Vegas. A community benefits plan is going through its final stages of review and approval.

The current difference in taxable and tax-exempt interest rates is about half a percent, Hill said, which works out to roughly $3 million a year for the amount of bonds Clark County plans to issue, beginning next year. That’s money that could be used for Stadium Authority operations, building up the debt service reserve, compensating the University of Nevada, Las Vegas for closing its football stadium or a number of other expenses.

The proposed elimination of the exemption came as a shock to those who had been working on project for the past year, said Steve Sisolak, chairman of the Clark County Board of Commissioners.

“We wouldn’t have made this plan had we known this was coming,” he said. “It’s like changing the rules mid-game. This came totally unexpected.”

It wasn’t clear whether the Senate version of the tax plan — which had yet to be released in full by Thursday — included the same bond reforms as the House bill.

Republican Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, said Wednesday on Nevada Politics Today that he supported the tax legislation but wanted a way to grandfather in the stadium project. And Rep. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, said the bond provision was just one of many ways the bill hurt Nevada and its infrastructure projects.

The NFL wasn’t pleased, either. In a statement, league spokesman Brian McCarthy said dropping tax exemptions for professional stadium bonds would be a “step backwards” for economic growth.

The Las Vegas stadium is supposed to be ready for the Raiders by the 2020 season, although Scott McKibben, executive director of the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum Authority, has said a lease extension for the team through 2019 — and possibly beyond — may be needed depending on how construction proceeds on the project.

Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov