CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The North Carolina State Auditor’s office has released its initial report that is tracking Charlotte’s $650 million commitment to the renovation of Bank of America Stadium. State auditor Dave Boliek says the report marks a new real-time watchdog approach to major public-pr ivate partnerships. The overall project cost is $1.3 billion. It is split evenly between the city and Tepper Sports and Entertainment. Initial records show that $3.1 million has already been disbursed. That includes $2.5 million for ongoing construction on the Panthers Field House, alongside over $630,000 in debt financing fees. Boliek says, “This is taxpayer dollars. After all, the issuance of a bond is really very analogous to the people’s credit card. So the people are borrowing money, and they’re spending it in a way that they wanna see what the return in on investment is.” Moving forward, the state plans to issue spending updates at least quarterly. ...read more read less