Kent County, Michigan is set to hold a public vote on August 6 on whether to hike its hotel tax rate from 5% to 8% to fund a minor-league soccer stadium and music amphitheater, and if you’re wondering things like “Why should I care?” and “Where the hell is Kent County?” wait till you hear who did the economic impact study:
Over a 32-year period, the estimated economic impact of the proposed soccer stadium and the 12,000-capacity Acrisure Amphitheater totals $1.2 billion in Kent County, according to an economic impact study commissioned by Grand Action 2.0, the private economic development group leading the charge to build the venues…
How did the author of the study, CSL International, come up with those figures? Are they accurate? How likely is the economic impact to materialize?
Yes, it’s the Wile E. Coyote of economic impact studies again! If past history is any guide, CSL came up with those figures through math errors, but let’s go check out their report and see … oh, it’s not online? Not even on Grand Action 2.0, the site set up by the private business owners seeking to get public money for their project, one of whom is Dick DeVos, the Amway failson and husband of Trump education secretary Betsy DeVos? Well, let’s see what CSL officials had to say, I guess:
For example, consider a family that buys a pizza, hot dog, beer and soda, he said. Demand for those products ripple through the economy, and can be felt by the companies that supply food and beverages to the amphitheater, [CSL principal John] Kaatz said.
“Somebody’s got to deliver the product to the stadium,” he said. “So, you’ve got delivery guys from off-site bringing in all the product. Then the product has to be warehoused at then venue. It has to be prepared at the venue. The product has to come from somewhere, so it’s shipped maybe from a wholesaler to another vendor who ends up shipping it to the stadium.”
Sure. Now consider a family that doesn’t go to a minor-league soccer game, and instead eats dinner somewhere else. Somebody’s got to deliver that food to the restaurant, or to the supermarket. Think of all the jobs that are created by people doing whatever they do with their lives now that have nothing to do with soccer! The economy is a wonderful web of spending, and a lot of it has to do with people just being hungry and needing places to live, and those things don’t change when there’s a new soccer stadium in town.
But then, I’m not an economist, unlike John Kaatz, who, well, has a bachelor’s in economics, I’ll give him that. What do actual professional economists say about his expertise?
(No actual economists were cited in MLive’s article, presumably because it took too long to transcribe all of Kaatz’s quotes and there was a deadline approaching, what do you want from your journalists, blood?)
The hotel tax rate hike is expected to generate an additional $9 million a year for the projects, which would cover about $140 million in construction costs — though that’s presumably assuming that people don’t start staying in the next county over, or avoiding the tourist mecca of Grand Rapids altogether, to avoid the high hotel taxes. The soccer stadium — to be the home of “professional soccer,” according to Grand Action 2.0’s website, no further details provided, though there’s previously been talk of a USL franchise — would require $115 million in public funds, and an accompanying 10,000-seat amphitheater would cost $114 million, so this will require additional state and city money as well, some of which has already been approved. Assuming that the hotel tax hike passes on August 6, that is, which this woman is committed to stopping with her stern glare.
UPDATE: Wait wait wait, this is better:
