"The final piece of the Florida Marlins' 15-year quest for a permanent South Florida home came down to $6.2 million, last-minute political confusion and, finally, a 1 a.m. vote at County Hall.

By Wednesday morning, only hours after the final approval came, workers assembled on the site of the former Orange Bowl to begin clearing land for the new baseball stadium. And late Wednesday afternoon, Miami-Dade Finance Director Carter Hammer was in New York signing off on a bond sale of $300 million to pay for much of construction of the new ballpark in Little Havana.

''This is a go,'' said County Manager George Burgess on Wednesday afternoon. ``Everything is done and priced. We have the funding in place to build the ballpark.''

The twin moves Wednesday represented a giant step in the long-standing -- and, until now, often failed -- effort to build a baseball stadium in Miami. Marlins officials say they are on track for Opening Day in 2012.

But for that timetable to hold up, the team and local government will have to avoid construction mistakes and delays, not an easy challenge in South Florida.

Meanwhile, even as crews descended on the site, some were still trying to make sense of the flurry of activity late Tuesday and early Wednesday in which funding for a new ballpark proved daunting to the very end.

ONGOING CRITICISM

Critics are still asking -- yet not getting answers to -- how much the stadium will ultimately cost when principal and interest are repaid to bondholders. County Manager Burgess said Wednesday he still doesn't know what the ultimate price tag will be.

One city leader asserted that the last-minute amendments adopted by county commissioners required another vote by Miami commissioners to ratify the changes, as the city is a partner in the ballpark deal with Miami-Dade and the Marlins.

''I think it has to come back to the city for a vote to be an enforceable agreement,'' said Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, who voted against the stadium deal earlier this year. ``The agreement is not what we signed up for.''

But county officials asserted there was no need for another vote, after the Marlins, facing a $6.2 million construction shortfall from bond proceeds, promised to put up the money themselves.

''We don't have any changes to the underlying agreement,'' said Assistant County Attorney Geri Keenan.

To prove the point, county leaders signed the two bond purchase agreements Wednesday afternoon that formally set the ballpark financing package in motion. One bond series underwritten by Merrill Lynch was for $219,652,000, and the other, underwritten by JP Morgan, was for $80,767,000.

''Once the bond purchase agreement is signed, there's no more termination rights for the city or team,'' said Florida Marlins President David Samson. ``And the only way this deal can be terminated after that is if bonds don't close, which they always do.''"