Cash cow or cowardly boondoggle?
Stormland TV tried to polish the turd called the Events Center tonight, but still left us with more questions;
• The GM of the EC said tonight that people coming to SF for shows generate (private business) revenue and sales tax revenue throughout the community besides what is generated at the EC itself, but could not give us a solid number of what that revenue is, only saying it is a lot. There are formulas to determine these kind of things, in fact the Convention and Visitors Bureau has produced these numbers in the past. Have they been stifled because of the BID tax fiasco?
• The EC admitted they had a net operating revenue of $2.1 million, which is great, BUT;
- Who gets this money? Does it go back to the city, put in the general fund to help pay the almost $10 million dollar mortgage each year? Does it go to help pay for maintenance of the building? Assuming the EC is ran like the Washington Pavilion (city owned building – privately managed) that all maintenance expenses come from the CIP not from the net revenue. And if the money doesn’t go back to the city (and citizens) where does it go? Who has control of it? SMG or the tax payers of this city?
• The EC paid in $1.5 million in sales taxes (assuming) that is from the 7.5% total tax rate that is almost $20 million in sales from the EC. Where did this money go? Promoters? SMG? Artists? Out of state suppliers? How much recirculated in the community or did it go straight out the door of SF? Can we get the breakdown of these sales?
While I am very pleased the place is entertaining people and is not sucking us dry on operations, I’m concerned the money the EC is generating is leaving our community while lining the pockets of a lot of people who couldn’t even pick SF out on a map of the United States while the citizens foot the bill for the mortgage.