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December 14, 2006
A billion here, a billion there
Rupert Murdoch's monkeys are at it again:
The Empire State Development Corp. now anticipates the nearly $4 billion Atlantic Yards project will generate $944 million in net tax revenues over the project's first 30 years. -New York Post article, today
Imagine: a $4 billion shot in the arm for Brooklyn - bringing 22,000 new jobs over the next decade, another 5,000 permanent jobs and $5.6 billion in tax revenues over 30 years. -New York Post editorial, today
Atlantic Yards Report theorizes that the $5.6 billion figure just adds up future tax receipts instead of figuring their present value - by my calculations, though, even the present value of $5.6 billion spread over 30 years would be at least $2.6 billion. More likely is that someone in the Post editorial offices has been sampling the funny meatballs.
In other news, ESDC's Jessica Copen reports that the agency hopes to have a new memo available soon that will spell out the revised costs and benefits of the Nets-arena-and-housing-and-office-towers-and-the-kitchen-sink project. Then they'll only have seven presents left to buy!
No one has the time to double check these figures, least of all the press. These press releases always read like a badly posed math problem with a few key missing points. Often times the tax take is inflated by counting the total take of state, county and city governments. When the project is funded from city or county money, you must take into consideration that most of the money goes to the state and the local governments keep a fraction of that. Long before the discussion of this fine point has had a chance to take root, someone will always yell,"PLAY BALL"
Imagine, if you will, the construction of a school or sewage treatment plant with all of the economic development jargon added to the "news."
The city of Sockmore broke ground today on the construction of their fourth high school. The school will not only revitalize the community but will add another 1200 direct and 600 indirect jobs to the local economy. Throughout the life cycle of this facility, the teachers and students are expected to pay 6 times the cost of the initial investment in taxes making this decision a virual cash machine...ect.
Posted by Danny L. Newton on December 22, 2006 06:20 PM