A wording error in the Legislature’s tax bill exposed a potential money shortfall for the Minnesota Vikings’ new stadium on Wednesday. If uncorrected, that error also threatens to foil plans to help build Minnesota United FC’s proposed soccer stadium in St. Paul.

The inadvertent mistake, though, appears to be a fix both Dayton and House Speaker Kurt Daudt are willing to make.

Now, the questions are: How will the Legislature make the correction? And will it come before Dayton’s Monday deadline to sign the bill?

In a Wednesday news conference, Dayton said he would not sign the tax bill because a single word in its nearly 300 pages would cause a $102.4 million reduction in charitable gambling revenue over three years to fund the Vikings’ U.S. Bank Stadium.

An “and” should have been used instead of an “or” on a change to the tax charged on paper pull tabs in bingo halls. The tax bill defines a bingo hall as a place where an organization “regularly conducts bingo if that organizations gets half of its revenue from bingo ‘or’ no other organization conducts lawful gambling.”

“If the word ‘or’ was ‘and,’ then ‘bingo hall’ would include only locations where bingo is the primary lawful gambling activity,” the Minnesota Management and Budget office said in a letter Wednesday to Dayton.

Included in the bill was Minnesota United’s request for a property tax exemption for the stadium site at the corner of Interstate 94 and Snelling Avenue. United’s property tax break request was the biggest of three Legislative asks they have said are vital to privately finance a $150 million stadium.

Dayton requested a special session to address the edit. He also insisted the Legislature permanently reinstate tax-exempt status for the Minnesota State High School League.

“We could get this done in a very timely way,” Dayton said.

On United’s stadium fate being tied to the Vikings’ funding snafu, Dayton said, “This doesn’t need to be sunk unless somebody sinks it.” The two pro teams contested each other to receive the Major League Soccer expansion franchise bid last March. The league awarded the team to Minnesota United.

SEEKING A SOLUTION

Daudt sent a letter to the governor on the wording issue, saying, “We agree to make those changes.” He later added, “We will fix them as expeditiously as possible.”

Daudt, R-Crown, and Senate Minority Leader David Hann, R-Eden Prairie, say lawmakers could just make clear their intention with the tax language by letter and that would have force of law without a special session.

But Minnesota Department of Revenue Commissioner Cynthia Bauerly said that option is available only when legislative language is unclear. In this case, the result of the language “is clear on its face,” she said.

Earlier Wednesday, Dayton signed the Legislature’s supplemental budget bill, which included United’s request for a liquor license at the stadium.

United’s third and final request, a sales tax exemption on construction materials, was not included in a bill passed this session, but the team and St. Paul appear to be amenable to an alternative route and apply for a sales tax refund under existing state law. The St. Paul Saints used this route while building CHS Field in Lowertown.

WAITING GAME

Dayton received the budget and tax bills on May 24, and United and St. Paul officials are awaiting his signatures before giving the go-ahead for the stadium. United declined comment on Wednesday’s developments.

If and when Dayton signs the tax bill, Major League Soccer is expected to formally announce Minnesota as an expansion franchise that will join the 20-team league for the 2017 season.

When MLS awarded United the franchise over the Vikings’ bid, it was contingent on state support to build a soccer-specific stadium. Fourteen of the 20 stadiums currently in MLS are built with soccer as the primary tenant, meaning they have about 20,000 to 25,000 seats and have a natural grass playing surface.

United has plans to start construction on its glass-encased, 21,500-seat stadium later this summer and open in time for the MLS season in 2018. Meanwhile, the club is leaning toward a partnership with the University of Minnesota to use TCF Bank Stadium as a temporary home for the 2017 season.

The Loons, who currently play in the second-division North American Soccer League, play home matches at the National Sports Center in Blaine.