October 23, 2007
Pittsburgh's annual stadium tax exemption tab: $21m
Pittsburgh controller Tony Pokora issued a report yesterday finding that the Steelers, Penguins, and Pirates save $21 million a year in property taxes by having their facilities be owned by the state, not the private teams. (The teams do own the part of the buildings that matter: the revenue streams.) "The public has to pick that portion up," said Pokora. "The taxpayers of the city and the county are being burdened."
Mayor Luke Ravenstahl dismissed the issue, saying that since the teams don't own the facilities, it's not "something we need to focus on at this point." But some other states do require private entities holding tax-exempt land to pay payments in lieu of property tax (PILOTs) - Yale University, for example, pays 77% of what it would be taxed if it weren't an educational institution. And the New York Yankees and Mets are paying PILOTs on their new stadiums, albeit PILOTs that aren't really PILOTs.
Of course, such niceties aren't likely to make it into the daily newspaper coverage - especially if you're the Centre Daily Times, which headlined its AP story on the report this way:
Controller says Pittsburgh sports teams don't pay property taxes
I'm all for the press being skeptical of politicians' pronouncements, but come on.
For Immediate Release
October 31, 2007
Contact: Kenneth Miller 412-241-1339
Download files at www.iww.org
Thursday, November 1 10:30 AM - David L. Lawrence Convention Center, 3rd Floor
The Thursday Sports and Exhibition Authority meeting has been rescheduled twice already. If you plan to attend, please call the SEA (412-393-0200) on Thursday morning to confirm the meeting time. You can ask to be included you on a list of people who are notified about meeting time changes.
The Pirates have refused to accept the most basic responsibility for factories sewing apparel with the Pirates logo and, with Major League Baseball, made bogus assertions about their own social responsibility. The SEA Executive Director Mary Conturo clearly understands this but has failed to adequately explain to the Board. John Chalovich said at the last meeting that he "does not think the Pirates are using sweatshops" and that he "wishes" all Pirates merchandise was made in the United States. The actionable item for the SEA is to invite the Workers Rights Consortium (WRC)to Pittsburgh and accept its testimony about factories sewing Pirates apparel. The WRC is the Human Rights organization founded with the help of United Students Against Sweatshops that conducts factory monitoring without financial support of the apparel industry.
Since the Pittsburgh Pirates have failed to engage in a forthright dialogue, The Pittsburgh Anti Sweatshop Community Alliance (PASCA) asked the City Controller to investigate ways that the team can be held accountable to Pittsburghers. Deputy Controller Pokora released an audit on October 21 that answered some of our questions. The most important aspect of the Controller's audit is that the City has NO checks and balances to ensure that the team is accountable to our shared concerns/values, like honesty and Human Rights. All SEA members should be reconsidering what they have done with this wholesale give away and work with groups like PASCA to demonstrate what can be done in the absence of accountability mechanisms built into the PNC Park lease arrangement. PASCA asks that the Controller's office follow up on the totality of our request. PGH_Controller_July_3_Sweatshops_Bucco.pdf
The Black Political Empowerment Project (B-PEP) requested the assistance of Board Chairperson John Chalovich in addressing the lack of minority participation/retention in the Building Trades. It is deplorable that the head an important City/County Board has failed to respond. PASCA co-founder Kenneth Miller wrote an information request to the State and Federal Departments of Labor aimed at getting the information needed for a meaningful discussion of equity of minorities and fair share of the state and federal construction subsidies to our region. PA_dol_oct21.pdf
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