MIAMI -- A $3 billion mega-plan "is just a shell game to finance a baseball stadium" for Major League Baseball's Florida Marlins, auto magnate Norman Braman testified Monday as the trial opened in a lawsuit challenging the plan.

Attorneys for Braman said the Miami mega-plan that includes funding for a new baseball stadium would improperly siphon funds from accounts created to address urban blight and develop impoverished areas of the city.

Braman testified that the plan should be put to a vote.

"People have the right, the basic right, to vote on these issues," Braman said.

Attorneys for the city, Miami-Dade County and the Marlins countered that the plan marked a legitimate use of tax dollars for a public purpose, one that was approved by several government bodies and shouldn't be overturned by a judge. They also said no voter referendum is required under the law.

"We attracted the Florida Marlins," said David Hope, an assistant county attorney. "We're going to keep the Florida Marlins, and there is a price for doing that."

Braman, the owner of Braman Motors and former owner of the National Football League's Philadelphia Eagles, filed the lawsuit in January, shortly after approval of the plan late last year to build the Marlins stadium, a tunnel to the Port of Miami, a new museum park in Bicentennial Park and to pay down debt at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts.

The Marlins, who won the World Series in 1997 and 2003, had threatened to relocate to another city if a permanent ballpark is not built. They have shared a stadium with the NFL's Miami Dolphins since the franchise began play in 1993.

Under the plan, a 37,000-seat, $525 million stadium with a retractable roof and parking garage would be built on the downtown site formerly occupied by the now-demolished Orange Bowl. The team would also be renamed the Miami Marlins.

The civil trial, being heard by Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Jeri Cohen, is expected to last about two weeks and include testimony by Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez and Marlins officials.

The Marlins hope to begin play in the new stadium in 2011, but the lawsuit could upset that timetable because groundbreaking is currently scheduled for later this year. Whichever side loses could appeal, possibly leading to more delays.