Start your spring off right with some civil discourse: the athletic supporters are hosting another public forum on the vernal equinox, Tuesday, March 20, at 7 p.m. (Spring actually starts at 7:08 p.m.) The Madville Times may be there, although the meeting also coincides with bedtime for a certain small roommate of the editor, so we'll see.
I did send the gym promoters an inquiry through their website (MadisonPride.com... and watch your typing kids: our local boosters certainly wouldn't want you surfing over to MadisonPride.org, a group in Wisconsin with a very different mission!) about the possibility of relieving some of the public debt burden through user fees -- an extra dollar per ticket for any event taking place in the new facility. No response yet.
As we approach the election, no party has offered persuasive answers to either the points raised by my guest commentator or myself. The more I think about it, the more it seems we have a case of a handful of financial interests attempting to co-opt the school budget to serve their economic development interests. I'm open to a discussion about the proper role of government in promoting the private sector (should the government actively promote business or just not actively interfere with business?), but I'm pretty sure the public school system is not the proper agent for such direct financial assistance. Maybe the boosters will have some new arguments to offer tomorrow night.
In the 2-15-07 Madison Daily Leader article entitled "City has limitations on second penny" it states that the "commissioners have placed restrictions on the use of second penny revenue, limiting it to paying for capital improvements, debt service, 911 services, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT or park services."
ReplyDeleteThe clearly state that they have the option to use the second penny revenue for economic development, and this new gym is being touted to bring economic development into the city, so the city should be willing to help pay for it. From their own mouths!
I love the link to the other Madison Pride. Heehee.
ReplyDeleteI should photoshop the Bulldog logo to include a nice rainbow :)
Oh Steve! Do. Please do. :-)
ReplyDelete"Pride Logo"
ReplyDeleteThis image should not be implied as support of the gym project, nor as homophobia. Merely as cheap fun.
The City of Madison needs to be involved financially with the proposed gym for Madison. It is a tool for economic development and recruitment and will bring new money to Madison's businesses, convenience stores, restaurants, retailers and further showcase DSU for future recruiting of students. I'd like to see the City involved for half of the $5.8 Million which uses the second penny sales tax, which harms no one. That would reduce the burden on property taxes. Even add a bed and booze tax that visitors pay while they attend all the new tournaments we'll be hosting.
ReplyDeleteCity involvement -- if the city sees real economic development potential, they should go for it. What about some of the $1.16 million the LAIC was able to raise in the first weeks of its Forward Madison campaign last year?
ReplyDeleteDSU -- a recruitment benefit from a nice high school gym? I need a little firmer marketing evidence on that one. How many incoming DSU freshman are interested in the size of the high school gym?
Bed and booze tax -- absolutely! The more of this burden borne by those directly benefiting from the project, the better. Now, Anonymous, how do you feel about a one-dollar surcharge on every ticket for every event held in the new gym? You use the gym, you help pay for the gym. Is anything fairer than that?
While I'm thinking about it, if the new gym really has any DSU recruitment potential, how much will DSU be paying to subsidize this facility?
ReplyDeleteAnd as I think about the bed and booze tax -- my sources at the public fora tell me the organizers admit they won't draw as many tournaments as they originally claim. We certainly won't draw any state tournaments -- we can't even get in the rotation for hosting the State Debate tournament.
We don't have a lot of lodging to offer tournament goers: 38 rooms at AmericInn, maybe the same at Super 8, fewer at Lake Park, couple beds and breakfasts... maybe 100, 110 decent rooms? Let's give the gym promoters the benefit of the doubt and say they can bring all six of the tournaments they list on their page to town and fill every motel room every night. The back of my envelope says 6 nights, 110 rooms, $5 a room... $3300.
So the bed half of the bed and booze tax won't generate much revenue. And are we really going to sell much booze for pee-wee wrestling tournaments and other events for kids (and would we want to)?
Ultimately, if an economic development project can't pay for itself, is it really economic development?