I attended the final meeting, and it was a doozy as usual. But before the meeting Mayor Munson was Greg Belfrage’s show talking about the EC, so I called in and told the mayor that 1) A food tax rebate program is a farce (he blamed the state for that) and that a retail tax increase will go ‘Down in Flames’ to which he replied, “it is the only option to get this thing built.” Well, then I guessed we are screwed. I also think he was pulling stuff out of the air, he claimed that a BB & B tax would only raise $5 million a year. Where did that number come from? It depends on how much you want to charge for a room or cocktail tax. I also suggested an advertising or corporate entertainment tax. He did not respond to the entertainment tax but did say, “I don’t understand how an advertising tax would work.” You served in the legislature and as our mayor for seven years and you don’t understand a simple concept like that? Give me a break.
As for the meeting, it had a surprise beginning, Jim Woster got together with Mike Cooper of the Planning Department and Jodi Schwan, of, I don’t know what department she works for anymore, and they devised a city rebate program that could be given to a certain income bracket, but when asked how much money it would take out of the 3rd penny tax collection or how many people would use it, they did not have a clue. Finally, Dana Dykhouse (who decided to show up to the last meeting) said, (paraphrasing) “It is irrelevant what the food tax debate will have on this project, it is our recommendation to fund it with a 3rd penny and we can let the city government and legislators figure that out later.” And he added, “We don’t set tax policy, we are just making a recommendation.” Well, Dana, you are recommending we raise taxes to pay for this joint, so yes, you are setting tax policy.
Charlene (TF Member) also chimed in again on this subject and said they explored all other funding options, and that she was upset that the public suggested otherwise. Bologna. Cheryl Rath has attended every single TF meeting and has taken detailed notes, she told me they spent “Very little time exploring other options.” Here is a short list of funding options I came up with sitting in McDonald’s drive-thru for 5 minutes;
• BB & B Tax
• Advertising Tax
• Corporate Entertainment Tax
• Usuary Fees (parking, tickets, rentals)
• Economic Impact Tax
• Luxury tax (EX: Recreational vehicles, luxury autos, jewelry, etc.)
How many of these came up in discussion Charlene? ZERO!
And now for the ridiculous cost estimates. If you think they lowballed the Pavilion, wait until you hear these costs;
• The cost for the entire complex not including a new Howard Wood would be between $135-165 million.
When they started to discuss the breakdown, that’s when those numbers started to rise.
• Darin Daby from the School Board felt that demolishing HW would cost more then the $15 million projection (more like $25 million)
• The CC expansion was estimated at $21 million (that was also considered a lowball)
• The Arena remodel was at $8 million (that too was considered a lowball)
• And the actual EC without parking or landscaping costs was estimated to cost about $115 million, which I think is extremely low.
I’ll be interested to see where these numbers are at on November 16 when they present the recommendation to the City Council. My assumption is they want to lowball this, and they did a heckuva job of it.