City of Miami leaders, searching for a way out after discovering they may be stuck with a hefty tax bill on parking garages the city built at the new Marlins ballpark, summoned Marlins President David Samson for a chat at City Hall.

Samson sat and listened, then responded: Don’t expect the Marlins to pick up any of the tab.

In the clearest indication of the team’s position since the tax issue arose, Samson told Mayor Tomás Regalado, City Manager Johnny Martinez and City Attorney Julie Bru that the Marlins would not kick in toward any unexpected tax expense.

“I don’t even know why I’m here,” Samson said last week, according to Regalado. “We’re not paying any more.”

Marlins executives — in Dallas Tuesday bidding for slugger Albert Pujols, after signing two other free agents to $133 million in new contracts during the past week — did not return repeated requests for comment.

The summit at City Hall last Wednesday was held to ask the Marlins to help cover property taxes — nearly $1.2 million a year — for four parking garages at the East Little Havana stadium. The Miami-Dade County property appraiser surprised the city last month when he suggested the garages, owned and operated by Miami, may not be tax-exempt.

According to those who attended the meeting, Samson said his ballclub would not fork over any cash or renegotiate its deal with the city and the county to give Miami better terms. But the Marlins president agreed the city shouldn’t have to pay taxes and offered to provide free legal advice as Miami tries to make its case to the property appraiser.

“He wasn’t confrontational. He was not an adversary,” Regalado said of Samson. “He just said, ‘We’re willing to help, but we’re not willing to pay more.’ ”

The city and the county financed the vast majority of costs to build the new stadium and garages. The Marlins team, which will receive practically all revenues from the ballpark, was required only to spend $120 million at the end of construction.

The property tax issue is under scrutiny as part of a wide-ranging federal investigation into the financing of the new $634 million ballpark. The U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, which subpoenaed the city and county Thursday, specifically asked Miami for documents concerning whether the garages would be subject to property taxes.

Municipal buildings are usually exempt from paying taxes under state law. But the law also says the facilities must be used exclusively for a public purpose.

Though Miami built and will manage the ballpark garages, the Marlins will pay the city about $10 per space to lease all 5,000 parking spaces for 81 home games a year. That agreement between the city and the Marlins — a private, for-profit company — means the garages may no longer qualify for a tax exemption, Miami-Dade Property Appraiser Pedro Garcia and other county officials say.

The city disagrees, countering that the garages were built as part of a larger public project: the stadium, which does not have to pay property taxes because it sits on county land. Regalado said all parties to the deal agreed to that understanding.

On Monday, an influential state lawmaker said Florida law should be tweaked to make the garages tax-exempt.