The county, which rejected an earlier stadium deal, announced Tuesday it will continue levying a 4.25 percent hotel tax for the next 20 years - a largely symbolic gesture to ensure that Sandy's Redevelopment Agency snares a low interest rate when seeking funds to cover land, parking and infrastructure upgrades for the $110 million venue.

"Whatever we do now, it really doesn't matter," Councilman Jim Bradley said, reaffirming his opposition to public funding for the stadium. "If it provides a better rate to taxpayers, then why not?"

Mayor Peter Corroon inked the deal last week, avoiding any references to funding the stadium directly. He said he would have approved the tax with or without the stadium.

The mayor's signature came a month after he snubbed a similar agreement that he feared would have allowed public funds to go to commercial projects around the stadium, such as a hotel and broadcast studio.

Corroon said he wasn't "comfortable" with such expenses.

The mayor also turned down an earlier stadium-funding plan, labeling it an "unsafe investment," before the Legislature, led by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., stepped in and rescued the project.

So while Corroon still doesn't like the idea of paying for the stadium project - which Bradley characterized as a "public gratuity for a private soccer interest" - he said he would go along with it to save taxpayers money in interest.

The council consented by a 6-3 vote Tuesday, approving reluctantly a document that includes no mention of RSL. Mark Crockett, David Wilde and Marv Hendrickson voted against the tax.

The state now will snatch 15 percent of the county's hotel-tax earnings for a stadium project that most Utahns continue to oppose.

A recent Deseret Morning News/KSL poll found that 56 percent of Utahns disagree with the state's decision to sink public funds into RSL's professional soccer venue. That opposition swells to 60 percent in Salt Lake County, according to the poll.

But RSL and Sandy continue to march forward. Team officials announced Monday that they have secured a line of credit from Zions Bank that will provide $7.5 million for a proposed youth sports complex in Salt Lake City. That money would satisfy one of the conditions for RSL to collect the hotel-tax funding.

And Sandy's City Council on Tuesday night discussed a parking plan for the stadium, expected to open in fall 2008.

jstettler@sltrib.com