The Ramsey County Board of Commissioners voted 5-2 Tuesday to support a proposed Major League Soccer stadium in St. Paul’s Midway, provided that Minnesota United FC funds construction and design entirely with private money.

The nonbinding resolution mirrors a similar statement issued by the St. Paul City Council last month.

Both votes signal political support for a professional soccer stadium on tax-free land, with the expectation that design and construction would move forward hand-in-hand with improvements to the neighboring Midway Shopping Center.

County board members noted that Metro Transit’s 10-acre “bus barn” site has proved tough to redevelop, and the vacant land off Snelling and University avenues hasn’t generated a dollar in property taxes for at least 50 years.

“I look very forward to the opportunity to redevelop this site … which will be a catalyst for additional opportunities for our area,” said Commissioner Toni Carter, who represents the neighborhood. “We have had much consternation over this site through the years, and this is the opportunity to really, as the city’s resolution states, ensure that we look at the whole site.”

A spokesman for Minnesota United had no comment Tuesday on the stadium proposal. It remains unclear if the team has decided on the St. Paul location over a privately owned site in the Minneapolis North Loop.

Whether sports stadiums do much to boost a city’s fortunes or lead to economic development in the surrounding area remains a controversial topic nationally, but fans of the soccer stadium proposal say that done right, the benefits can outweigh the costs to public coffers.

Commissioner Rafael Ortega noted that “15 years ago, the Xcel Center revitalized all of West Seventh. That was literally a ghost town.”

In a similar vein, the CHS Field ballpark, which debuted in May, has helped fill bar stools and restaurant seats in Lowertown, Ortega said.

Board members Janice Rettman and Blake Huffman cast the dissenting votes, with Rettman taking the lead in criticizing the resolution.

“I’m thinking of all of the small businesses out there that have put in all their hard-earned money,” Rettman said. “They don’t get this type of break, of being tax-free.”

She said that because of the city’s many nonprofits and government buildings, roughly a third of St. Paul is already off the tax rolls, and it’s unfair to give new development a pass in perpetuity.

“This exemption is far into the future. When we have 30 percent already off the tax rolls, not paying taxes … we’re making so many exceptions,” Rettman said. “We have to have taxes.”

And “nothing in this (resolution) also says that all of those jobs will be living-wage jobs with benefits,” she said.

Rettman noted that the land value for the 10 acres is about $8.6 million. Nearby properties like Target and Wal-Mart sit on roughly 8 acres of land apiece, and each generates more than $400,000 in property taxes annually. Those commercial buildings carry market values of less than $10 million.

Huffman said he voted against public subsidy for a Minnesota Vikings stadium back when the team was contemplating a move to Arden Hills, and he felt he should be consistent with his vote.

A professional soccer stadium of 18,000 to 20,000 seats would likely cost well over $100 million to construct. While it’s tough to estimate a market value, it’s clear that if a stadium were on the tax rolls, it would generate far more property taxes than Target or Wal-Mart.

Board chair Jim McDonough noted, however, that no other professional stadiums in the Twin Cities pay property taxes, and it’s unrealistic to expect that Minnesota United team owners would move forward with a project in St. Paul if they were expected to do so.

The hope is for a spillover effect — that redevelopment of the Midway Shopping Center and other nearby businesses will raise property values along Metro Transit’s Green Line light rail corridor, which will benefit city and county coffers alike.

Team owner Bill McGuire has shown interest in partnering with strip mall owner RK Midway on a renovation of the mall.

The Metro Transit bus storage facility, taken down in 2002, has yet to be replaced with anything but weeds and broken asphalt, and taxpayers receive no benefit while it sits empty.

And keeping publicly owned land off the tax rolls might be easier, politically, than converting privately held land in Minneapolis into tax-free property.

“Is there a cost to us? Yes, but it’s not something that we’ve had for over 50 years coming in from that,” said Commissioner Victoria Reinhardt, who chairs the county’s budget committee. “I think it is a wonderful site for this. And we will be bringing in money rather than putting out money.”

Ortega noted that the resolution does not legally commit the county to do anything, and if conversations with the team move forward, board members will likely have another chance to vote on whether to support a soccer stadium within the city.

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman has been working with McGuire on a stadium proposal, but no formal plan has been unveiled.

On Tuesday, City Council President Russ Stark said he had no inside knowledge of negotiations between Coleman’s office and the team, but he said tax exemption on land would be one particular detail among many involved with a deal.

“There’s still a lot of details — the parking and the maintenance,” Stark said. “The team has to say ‘This is our site,’ and for them to do that, there has to be parameters of what the rest of this deal would look like.”

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