Chief
07-21-2007, 05:41 AM
"Transit infrastructure could cost up to $62 Million"
What have I been telling you folks since the day this story broke??
In this monrning's rag, on the bottom of the front page is a Jeff Mize story about the costs of getting access and building the basic infrastructure for Boise Cascade. According to Mize, the Developer's share will be about 35%, so that breaks it down as follows:
Gramor Development would pay 35% (thirty five percent) of the cost, or: $21.7 Million Dollars, leaving the balance of $45.3 Million for everybody else to pay.
As the columbian has previously reported, they believe that remaining portion will be split between the City of Vancouver, BNSF, and the Port of Vancouver. I have long held that neither the railroad or the Port should, or will kick in any significant funds toward any of this, so the lion's share of that $45 Million is going to have to come from you and me.
This story gives the happy-talk about the City seeking grants to pay for this. That isn't going to fly, because it takes years to get into the pipeline for the kind of grants they will need, and Gramor is chomping at the bit to get started building down there.
Folks, where do you suppose the City is going to go looking for money to pay for that project?? Thayer Rohrbaugh is quoted in this story in the last sentence saying:
"The potential for huge sales tax and property tax revenues are there"
It appears that Thayer did not get the memo that Council has already approved ten year tax exemptions for that project, so Thayer is obviously talking about "huge tax revenues" from you and I...
I will wager a steak dinner with all the trimmings that as soon as the City Council "Elections" are safely past, and all three incumbents are safely re-elected, you will see 2 things happen before the end of this year.
1. The City will move to form a "Special Transit Improvement District" at the Boise Cascade site.
2. The City will look to put a measure on the ballot to impose a fee on our License Plates to raise the cash to pay for it. $50 a tab sounds about right, so I will bet another steak dinner that the fee is at least that high.
None of this is any surprize to me. As is typical, we are hearing about this for the very first time, via the columbian, on a Saturday morning. the only comment I have heard about this was from Larry Smith. He stopped by our house a couple of weeks ago on a door-belling mission, and chatted with my wife and I for about an hour. When the subject of Boise came up, and I started talking numbers about what the potential costs were going to be, he casually tossed out a figure of about $12 million being all he thought the City's share was going to be.
I will anxiously await the hue and cry from the same crowd who are so adamantly opposed to the Port of Vancouver's IDD levy, to see how much hell they raise about this. I hope that some will compare what the city wants to buy at Boise Cascade at a potential cost to the taxpayers of $45 Million, against what the Port of Vancouver wants to do with their $78 Million.
Developing...
What have I been telling you folks since the day this story broke??
In this monrning's rag, on the bottom of the front page is a Jeff Mize story about the costs of getting access and building the basic infrastructure for Boise Cascade. According to Mize, the Developer's share will be about 35%, so that breaks it down as follows:
Gramor Development would pay 35% (thirty five percent) of the cost, or: $21.7 Million Dollars, leaving the balance of $45.3 Million for everybody else to pay.
As the columbian has previously reported, they believe that remaining portion will be split between the City of Vancouver, BNSF, and the Port of Vancouver. I have long held that neither the railroad or the Port should, or will kick in any significant funds toward any of this, so the lion's share of that $45 Million is going to have to come from you and me.
This story gives the happy-talk about the City seeking grants to pay for this. That isn't going to fly, because it takes years to get into the pipeline for the kind of grants they will need, and Gramor is chomping at the bit to get started building down there.
Folks, where do you suppose the City is going to go looking for money to pay for that project?? Thayer Rohrbaugh is quoted in this story in the last sentence saying:
"The potential for huge sales tax and property tax revenues are there"
It appears that Thayer did not get the memo that Council has already approved ten year tax exemptions for that project, so Thayer is obviously talking about "huge tax revenues" from you and I...
I will wager a steak dinner with all the trimmings that as soon as the City Council "Elections" are safely past, and all three incumbents are safely re-elected, you will see 2 things happen before the end of this year.
1. The City will move to form a "Special Transit Improvement District" at the Boise Cascade site.
2. The City will look to put a measure on the ballot to impose a fee on our License Plates to raise the cash to pay for it. $50 a tab sounds about right, so I will bet another steak dinner that the fee is at least that high.
None of this is any surprize to me. As is typical, we are hearing about this for the very first time, via the columbian, on a Saturday morning. the only comment I have heard about this was from Larry Smith. He stopped by our house a couple of weeks ago on a door-belling mission, and chatted with my wife and I for about an hour. When the subject of Boise came up, and I started talking numbers about what the potential costs were going to be, he casually tossed out a figure of about $12 million being all he thought the City's share was going to be.
I will anxiously await the hue and cry from the same crowd who are so adamantly opposed to the Port of Vancouver's IDD levy, to see how much hell they raise about this. I hope that some will compare what the city wants to buy at Boise Cascade at a potential cost to the taxpayers of $45 Million, against what the Port of Vancouver wants to do with their $78 Million.
Developing...