It’s almost a done deal.

The Minnesota Vikings stadium took a penultimate step toward becoming a reality Thursday, May 24, as a committee of the Minneapolis City Council voted to approve local tax funding for construction at the site of the downtown Metrodome.

Meeting as the Committee of the Whole, the 13-member council voted 7-6 to accept the stadium financing plan approved by the state Legislature this month.

The vote, which followed nearly three hours of sometimes-emotional discussion, mirrored the result of a test vote the council took last month.

The council will meet again Friday morning for a final vote, which is expected to be a formality.

Before casting their votes, Mayor R.T. Rybak and council members spoke out passionately on either side of the issue.

Rybak stressed the nearly “$1 billion investment to a part of town that has been moribund” for decades.

The mayor said he was no fan of using public money for professional sports, but he said the stadium deal would keep the Vikings within Minneapolis, solidify funding for the city’s convention center and put 7,500 people to work in construction and other jobs.

“I’ve been hoping for 10 years that we can clear Target Center (debt and renovation needs) up,” Rybak said. “The reality is, this is our one shot.”

The mayor said a wide range of goals would be accomplished by extending the life of existing downtown Minneapolis sales taxes, instead of creating a host of new ones.

“Please, no one should say that if this passes tomorrow, sales taxes will go up,” Rybak said. “That’s simply not true.”

Others were unconvinced.

Council member Lisa Goodman, who teaches a class on community and economic development at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute, fought tears as she questioned the potential long-term jobs and economic benefits.

“To me, this is a really sad day for the city,” Goodman said. “My constituents will have to pay more to eat in their own neighborhood as a result of this.”

Council member Gary Schiff read a lengthy list of professional sports stadiums from around the country that were built with more than 60 percent to 80 percent private funding.

“We did not negotiate a good deal,” he said. “This deal has construction costs that are 55 percent privately financed.”

At times, the City Hall meeting room felt more like a performance hall or audition space. Scott “Skolt” Asplund of Maple Grove arrived in full Vikings regalia, his face painted in stripes, a shield on his arm, eager to celebrate after a month of tailgating outside the state Capitol during legislative negotiations on the stadium bill.

“The heritage aspect by itself is fantastic,” Asplund said of keeping the Vikings in Minnesota. “We’re already hearing talk about (hosting) a Super Bowl. It’s such huge business. You get the hotels and the restaurants and shopping it brings in.”

Chuck Turchick of Minneapolis walked through the council room, engaging bystanders before the committee meeting, a bundle of papers laying out projected sales tax revenue under his arm.

“I oppose subsidizing billionaires,” he said. “I don’t think the state should be encouraging gambling. Every single independent study says it’s not a spur to economic development. There’s a zillion reasons to oppose this. And I’m a big Vikings fan.”

Opponents of the stadium plan disagreed with the city attorney’s recent findings that dedicating tax dollars toward the stadium would not violate a 1997 provision in the city’s charter. The provision requires a public referendum if spending on professional sports facilities exceeds $10 million.

“I’m not opposed 100 percent to any public subsidy … (but) the scope of the subsidy, I think it’s enormous,” council member Robert Lilligren said.

Council member Cam Gordon agreed, noting the city has struggled to maintain fire department staffing and couldn’t fund a youth violence coordinator.

“We already have the highest sales taxes of any downtown in the country,” Gordon said. “We’re also in Hennepin County, so we’re also bearing the Hennepin County tax for the Twins stadium.”

Council President Barbara Johnson, a stadium supporter, called the deal important to the downtown business community.

“I believe in investing in this community … and the people who come to this community because we’ve invested,” she said.

Council member Don Samuels called the men dressed in Vikings outfits in the audience and the construction workers in hard hats “a strange marriage” but an important one. He said the city’s minority population has deep needs.

“The people in my community suffer disproportionately,” Samuels said. “How are we going to fill those gaps? A job would fill those gaps.”

The Legislature this month approved public funding for a new stadium, and Gov. Mark Dayton signed the bill into law May 14. The 65,000-seat stadium would be built on the site of the Metrodome in time for the 2016 season.

With the team chipping in $477 million, Minnesota would use taxes from new electronic charitable gambling games to contribute an additional $348 million.

Minneapolis taxes that otherwise would go toward its convention center would be extended several decades to add $150 million to stadium construction. Downtown taxes also would contribute toward operating and capital improvement, beginning at $6 million a year and escalating over time.

The bill calls for female and minority hiring goals and job training for Minneapolis residents.

The council passed two “staff directions” elaborating on those goals and directing staff to look at development options for the land surrounding the future stadium.

Frederick Melo can be reached at 651-228-2172. Follow him at twitter.com/FrederickMelo.