INDIANAPOLIS -- There's a new $48 million question surrounding plans for the new Colts stadium.

Gov. Mitch Daniels said he believes the latest stumbling block to building a stadium for the Colts can be solved. But Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson said that solution won't include any additional money from Indianapolis taxpayers.

The latest problem is a question about who owes $48 million to the Colts, which will then be used by the team as part of its contribution to the project. Both the mayor and the governor say it's the other guy.

The governor said the dispute is one that can be resolved. He said the stadium project has been pulled out of the ditch once, and he won't let it slip back again. But he won't back down an inch about who is right on the issue.

"The mayor is dead wrong about the law," Daniels said.

But Peterson is equally adamant that he's right.

"Well, there's no misunderstanding. The $48 million was always included in the financing. Everybody knows that," Peterson said.

The $48 million is a payment owed to the Colts for terminating their current lease at the RCA Dome early. The team will then hand that money to the state as roughly half of its $100 million contribution to the project.

According to a portion of the stadium law handed out by Daniels aides Thursday, the city Capital Improvement Board agrees to deliver to the authority -- that's the state -- the $100 million that is owed. Daniels said that means the city still owes the Colts the $48 million.

"Let's treat it as an innocent misunderstanding on the city's part. Let's recognize the desperation of their financial situation with sewers, pensions, borrowing money to pay current expenses."

But Peterson said correspondence between the city and state shows that it was always understood that whoever financed the deal was responsible for the $48 million. That's now the state. He said this is like a mortgage company dumping a surprise closing cost on an unwary homebuyer.

"We'll do everything we can to consult with them and provide advice. But at the end of the day, there's not gonna be another penny of taxpayer money that comes from Marion County," Peterson said.

The governor announced plans to take his message about the Colts stadium on the road, to drum up support for the taxes to pay for it.

The meetings next week will begin Monday in Hancock County. The governor will host a town hall forum at the courthouse annex at noon, and one that night in Shelby County at the Golden Corral on State Road 44.

On Tuesday, the forums move to Boone County, at the Boone County fairgrounds at noon and to Hamilton County, in the county commissioner's room in Noblesville at 5 p.m.

The forum will move to Hendricks County on Wednesday, at the Mayberry Cafe on Main Street in Danville, starting at noon.

A pair of meetings are scheduled for Thursday at 12:30 p.m. in Morgan County and 5 p.m. in Johnson County, although exact sites have not been determined.

The governor is trying to convince those counties to pass the food and beverage tax to pay for the arena, but the stadium can still move forward if they don't.