The downtown trade, exhibit and event center could get back on track today.

After two weeks of negotiating, some adjustments have been made to City Administrator Fred Russell's financing plan that will be presented in a special called meeting at 3 p.m.

Super district Commissioner Don Grantham said a new Urban Redevelopment Authority has been taken off the table, and it's now being proposed that the newly constituted Augusta-Richmond County Coliseum Authority and the Downtown Development Authority issue the bonds to build the exposition center and kick-start revitalization of the Laney-Walker and Bethlehem neighborhoods.

The $17 million parking deck, another point of contention, is still included, he said.

Mr. Grantham said he's hopeful some version of the plan will get six or more votes. Otherwise, he said, he fears the appearance of inaction on a project approved by a referendum in 2005 could jeopardize the $184.7 million sales tax package going before voters June 16.

"I think it's in the best interests of the community that it be resolved," he said. "We're getting too close to SPLOST. We're hearing too many people objecting to SPLOST."

The financing plan Mr. Russell proposed in April involved $26 million in bonds to build a $38 million TEE center with a $17 million parking deck, and $9 million in bonds for the Laney-Walker and Bethlehem neighborhoods.

The two issues were tied together in 2007 when Mr. Grantham, lacking a sixth vote to approve the TEE center's site and operating agreement, reached a compromise with Commissioner Betty Beard where $750,000 per year from a $1-a-night hotel fee would go toward inner-city revitalization, raising $37.5 million over 50 years.

But the cost of the TEE center has inflated since voters approved it at $20 million. Mr. Russell found several revenue sources to compensate for the cost difference and pay off bonds, but his plan failed May 5 by a 5-4-1 vote, a verbal fracas breaking out when a livid Mr. Grantham accused Ms. Beard of breaking a deal.

Ms. Beard said she didn't back out of anything, that the $20 million for the TEE center is still available and a recession is the wrong time to spend a total $55 million on something that's not essential.

"No" voters Corey Johnson and Alvin Mason later said they want to see the facility built, but they wanted the parking deck and creation of a new development authority removed from the plan. Mr. Russell said bond attorneys and financial advisers suggested a new authority issue the bonds together as a cost-cutting measure, but Mr. Johnson and Mr. Mason questioned the need for yet another authority in town.

Mr. Grantham said that, tentatively, the seven-member coliseum authority taking over next month could handle the financing for the TEE center and the Downtown Development Authority could handle the inner city.

Mr. Grantham said the plan could still change.