MIAMI – The Florida Marlins' campaign for a new ballpark now has the support of Gov. Jeb Bush, who said Tuesday he favors the latest proposal to hold a tax referendum in July.

Bush and Mayor Joe Carollo met along the Miami River, close to the site where Marlins owner John Henry, the county and city hope to build a $385 million state-subsidized stadium.

Bush and Carollo are optimistic they can get support from city residents, who would need to approve the referendum, and state legislators, who would need to approve in January a financing plan that failed to clear the Legislature last Friday.

"The final proposal the city came up with is something I support, and it should have the support of the leadership in the legislature," Bush said. "I don't know that for a fact, but it passed the House; I believe it would pass the Senate."

Bush's support certainly will help. The governor rejected the team's stadium-financing proposal last year for a tax on cruise ship passengers. This year, he never took a position on a $122 million state sales tax rebate to help finance the ballpark.

Henry said last week that the team would need a financing plan within 30 days to get a ballpark with a retractable roof built by 2005. If not, he said, he might be forced to sell or move the team.

Henry accompanied the Marlins to Los Angeles for a three-game series against the Dodgers. A team spokesman said Henry had no immediate comment.

Carollo said he thought July would be soon enough to meet the owner's deadlines.

"We were so close to getting it done last Friday," Carollo said. "We got to first base, we went to second and moved to third. But before we could get home and score, time ran out. We've got to go back and make it happen now."

Though he refused to go into detail, Carollo said voters would be given a chance to approve a referendum in a special election. Several questions about the stadium plan would be presented to voters, and the referendum would propose a 40-year extension of a parking surcharge.

Since buying the team in January 1999, Henry has argued the Marlins need a new home to increase revenue so they can field a contender. Last season, their player payroll of less than $20 million was baseball's second-lowest, but because of poor attendance the team still lost $10 million, Henry said.

He expects to lose $20 million this season.

"The questions is: Can he wait?" Bush said. "That's up to him. We can't make that decision for him, but I think people in this community would like a chance to vote on whether they would want to extend this tax. We ought to give them that right, but Mr. Henry would have to assess the risk of waiting.

"Giving his experience with politics in the last couple years, I don't know if he's going to do that or not. I fully appreciate his frustrations in that regard."

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig warned legislators in April that if they didn't help finance a stadium, the Marlins would be a likely candidate for relocation or elimination.

Bush said Henry would decide the fate of the financially strapped franchise.

"We have to give him greater assurances than what he got with the legislature, which were none," Bush said. "But I'm confident something can be presented to him that would give him some confidence that there would be a really high probability that a stadium would be built."