As alluded to in yesterday's blog item, the Baseball Stadium Agreement isn't ready for a vote of the Miami-Dade County Commission on Thursday. Representatives of the Marlins, Major League Baseball, the county and city of Miami have been negotiating the agreement for days, but there are still issues to be worked out.

County Manager George Burgess is scheduled to give the commission an update on negotiations at Thursday's commission meeting. Commission Chairman Bruno Barreiro says he will ask for the item to be deferred until the commission's next meeting on Jan. 22 "so everyone can have enough time to review and analyze the whole package," Barreiro said.

"Even if it gets ready by Thursday, there definitely won't be enough time to review it," he said. "I don't want to take a blind vote."

After all, the city commission was criticized for voting on the "interlocal agreement" -- that paves the way for the ballpark funding -- only hours after having first been presented with it, the evening before their commission meeting. That agreement expands the boundaries and extends the life of Miami's Community Redevelopment Agencies to raise millions of dollars for projects in the city.

The commission delayed a vote on the $525 million ballpark agreement last month to give the sides time to reach an agreement. An earlier draft of the agreement called on the city and county to contribute $370 million in hotel bed and sports facilities taxes and a general obligation bond and for the Marlins to chip in $155 million. Barreiro said he doesn't think the hold up in finishing a Baseball Stadium Agreement is substantive.

"I think they’re very close," Barreiro said. "It’s minor details from what I understand, legalities, stuff like that. The stadium itself, I don’t think there’s a lot of big issues."

If an agreement is ready in time for the Jan. 22 meeting, the county could vote then followed by the city at its meeting on Jan. 24.