ST. PETERSBURG, Fla (WFLA) — Pinellas County Commissioners are voicing their concerns ahead of a vote Wednesday on whether to pay its share of bonds for the new Tampa Bay Rays baseball stadium.

Tropicana Field was heavily damaged after Hurricane Milton. It will send the Rays to Steinbrenner Field for next season.

For some, the possibility of a new stadium for the team is getting further away.

“This is such a huge thing. I thought we crossed that hurdle and now we’re right back to where we started,” said Heather Clark, a longtime Rays fan who paid close attention to the stadium deal.

The money needed to build the stadium was delayed once before. County Commissioner Chris Latvala explained why and mentioned how the vote was 6 to 1 to approve the delay.

“Even my colleagues that supported the Rays deal voted to delay the bond vote because it was right after the hurricanes,” said Latvala. “A hurricane has damaged severely 40,000 houses, destroyed businesses, devastating our beaches. At the top of my mind was not ‘Ok, we need to have money for our stadium'”.

It will cost $6.5 million to repair the damages done to Tropicana Field. The city will discuss what they plan to do at a meeting on Thursday, but this is something Latvala will bring up during Tuesday’s commission vote.

“A no vote effectively kills the current deal,” said Latvala.

Clark said the funds for this project were not allocated for hurricane recovery.

“I’m concerned that we’re using these storms as a political ploy for an unfortunate reason,” said Clark. “I think that’s an excuse to get to where he wants to be and that’s to not develop that area and not keep the Rays here.”

Commissioner Latvala said he wants the Rays here, but also said they aren’t the only business that suffered after two hurricanes. While he said he’s confident they can work something out, it’s been a challenge.

“It’s just hard to have a partnership with folks that won’t talk to you and especially after two hurricanes,” said Latvala. “I’ve seen things that suggest that their revenue are not going to be what they think that they are.”

Latvala opposed the deal in July, he said, for two reasons. The first being he didn’t like how the land deal was structured around the Trop and how it favored the Rays so much, whether they sold the team or moved, etc.

Secondly, he asked about beach nourishment and all the questions about the beaches. Since then we’ve had two hurricanes, and Latvala said he must prioritize restoring them as they are in a battle with the Army Corp of Engineers.

He said he believes it’s their job to fix the beaches and for the federal government to pay for it.

“Our tourists come here for the beaches, they don’t come here for baseball,” said Latvala.

He said he can’t support giving $1 billion of public funds to the stadium, but didn’t share exactly how he will vote on Tuesday.

“I’m certainly not a ‘yes’ when that team is not playing in Pinellas County and not helping us recoup those very dollars we’re using to pay it. When they’re playing in Hillsborough County we’re not recouping those bed taxes,” said Latvala.

Clark said the team had a lot of consideration when picking where they’d play in the meantime. She’s critical of Latvala’s reasonings.

“He’s very short-sided in the fact that this wasn’t just the Rays (saying) ‘Hey we’re going to get up and we’re going to move to Hillsborough County for the season’. It was a loss that no one could predict,” said Clark. “I think he’s using, posturing for his own political gain here.”

She said commissioners need to stick to the facts and think about the future.

“It’s going to be a year-round event center which is going to bring in revenue far past the year that he’s concerned about this loss of revenue,” said Clark. “I hope tomorrow is not a setback.”

The deadline for the bond vote is in March.