The figure has been rejected by stadium opponents, who say the money paid by Dunedin City Holdings Ltd - the holding company will pay off the principal of a $60 million loan - will add to the costs to ratepayers.
Asked for an explanation of the full cost to ratepayers, Mr Stephens said if the stadium proceeds, it will be sold by the council to a council-controlled company, at this stage to be called Dunedin City Venues Ltd.
The company would pay for the stadium by raising debt from Dunedin City Treasury, which the council would receive and use to pay off the debt it raised during construction.
Dunedin City Venues Ltd would hold the debt, sit inside the council's group of companies, and make a loss when interest expense and depreciation were taken into account.
The losses it incurred would be offset against the profits of the other companies.
That loss was estimated to be $5 million a year, which would translate to $66 a year for the average household.
"There's nothing else" in terms of costs to ratepayers, he said.
As more information came in about the stadium, its costs and funding, the situation was likely to change.
"If the companies do better, we might not have to subsidise them. Who knows?
"There are opportunity costs. That's the same with every project."
The pre-draft community plan said that from 2011-12, stadium-related debt on the council's balance sheet would relate to private sector funding.
About 53% of the private sector funding was forecast to be received before the stadium was transferred to the company, with the remaining 47% to be received by the council between 2011-12 and 2020-21.
That meant about $19.2 million of debt would remain on the council's books after the stadium was transferred.
"Under the current forecast for private sector funding, there is sufficient revenue to pay the interest expense and the loan payments during this time," the document said.
