Submitted by ma_lashley (not verified) on Wed, 05/16/2012 - 1:49pm.
I believe your Freudian slip of "morgue holder" is very apropos. When a public entity enters into a risky partnership with private interests it is a death knell to the tax-paying citizens. We only need to look to Roanoke Rapids as an example and that white elephant they have out there on I-95. Their haste to "bring jobs and revenue" to their city now sits vacant with the citizens paying the mortgage.
And on the subject of mortgages, Trask, et al is only agreeing to fund 1/3 of the debt. That leaves the city funding the other 2/3 and I am not aware of any bank out there that is going to loan 100% of the money to a private group that is only agreeing to make 33% of the payment. Oh yes, you can guarantee that the city will be on the note for that mortgage. The bank will insist on it just as much as a parent co-signs for a child's car. Then when that child declares bankruptcy the parent (in this example the city and thereby the taxpayers) will be compelled to cover all the payments. Don't kid yourself or others.
You also need an education on the purpose of occupancy tax and a math lesson on what the property tax rate on "surrounding development associated with the stadium" would actually work out to. Just as an example from last night's meeting; an additional 3 cent/$100 of valuation of the ENTIRE CITY was asked for just to cover a modest $950K increase over last year's budget. Think about creating a special taxing district just to fund a luxury item and PPD will move back out of downtown just like they did in the mid 90's. That's real economic impact right there.
A 100% private venture where the only responsible parties for the note are individual or corporate investors is the appropriate path.
The City of Wilmington and Port City Baseball should not be in such a head-long rush to spend other peoples' monies. Let the people that will be footing the bill have the real say so. IF the CoW wants to invest the public's money, then the public becomes a shareholder in that venture. As shareholders in any corporation are entitled to vote their say in a company's direction, so should the the real "shareholders" of this ballpark. Council, put it to a referendum.
Mike T???
I believe your Freudian slip of "morgue holder" is very apropos. When a public entity enters into a risky partnership with private interests it is a death knell to the tax-paying citizens. We only need to look to Roanoke Rapids as an example and that white elephant they have out there on I-95. Their haste to "bring jobs and revenue" to their city now sits vacant with the citizens paying the mortgage.
And on the subject of mortgages, Trask, et al is only agreeing to fund 1/3 of the debt. That leaves the city funding the other 2/3 and I am not aware of any bank out there that is going to loan 100% of the money to a private group that is only agreeing to make 33% of the payment. Oh yes, you can guarantee that the city will be on the note for that mortgage. The bank will insist on it just as much as a parent co-signs for a child's car. Then when that child declares bankruptcy the parent (in this example the city and thereby the taxpayers) will be compelled to cover all the payments. Don't kid yourself or others.
You also need an education on the purpose of occupancy tax and a math lesson on what the property tax rate on "surrounding development associated with the stadium" would actually work out to. Just as an example from last night's meeting; an additional 3 cent/$100 of valuation of the ENTIRE CITY was asked for just to cover a modest $950K increase over last year's budget. Think about creating a special taxing district just to fund a luxury item and PPD will move back out of downtown just like they did in the mid 90's. That's real economic impact right there.
A 100% private venture where the only responsible parties for the note are individual or corporate investors is the appropriate path.
The City of Wilmington and Port City Baseball should not be in such a head-long rush to spend other peoples' monies. Let the people that will be footing the bill have the real say so. IF the CoW wants to invest the public's money, then the public becomes a shareholder in that venture. As shareholders in any corporation are entitled to vote their say in a company's direction, so should the the real "shareholders" of this ballpark. Council, put it to a referendum.