Just in case you were thinking that that $655 million Astrodome-renovation-plus-Reliant-Arena-replacement was going to be paid for by elfin magic or something, Harris County officials are here to assure you that no, public costs cost the public:
Bill Jackson, the county’s chief budget officer, said such a large bond issue likely would require a tax hike or deep budget cuts, particularly given other projects for which the county will need to sell bonds, such as a forensic sciences facility.
If it’s not a surprising conclusion, it is a slightly surprising public declaration, seeing that saying “this will require tax hikes” is akin to saying “this will kill puppies” in terms of public opinion in America today. It’s further evidence in favor of the argument that the plan announced yesterday is more stalking horse than serious proposal, but we’ll see.
Incidentally, a clarification on the public cost of the plan: Construction would cost $655 million, but Houston taxpayers would only be on the hook for $523 million, with the rest coming via federal historic preservation tax credits — i.e., non-Houston taxpayers. Since this is a credit that’s available to anyone renovating a historic building (Fenway Park got preservation credits as well) I don’t usually count it as a special subsidy, but it’s arguably still a public cost. So headlines saying this is a $523 million deal or a $655 million deal are both equally right — or equally wrong, if you want to be that way.
Kudos on the reporting here, but can we also get a distinction between “subsidy” and “public cost” on issues such as, say, the Vikings stadium? :)
Here is the rub. Subsidy and public cost are the same thing. Pretty much all of Houston will pay for this renovation. The only exception is that 1/6th of the project will be covered by federal funds earmarked by Congress and paid for by Houston taxpayers. The Vikings situation is no different because the public is subsidizing the current cost of the Vikings new stadium except for the small part the Vikings are paying out of their own pocket.
In fact, pretty much all current projects are funded by public subsidies. The only difference is are we going to be funding a new bridge which will be used everyday; a library which will likely be closed only on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter; a new high school which will be used at least 200 days out of the year; or give the money and more to a wealthy individual who will build a new stadium for the “People” and will only be used at least 10 times a year?
What do they need this stadium for? They already have an NFL stadium, don’t they?
@ Tom
I was thinking the exact same thing as you. They should just demolish the Astrodome as far as I am concerned. This is a waste of taxpayers money.