By Roldo Bartimole
You did expect them back, didn’t you? Oh, you had to.
They never stop, you know. It’s in their DNA. The 1 percenters. They WANT. More.
After the original sin tax passed, they came back for more — a $45 million County bond issue and then an added $75 million. Still paying for those at about $8 million a year. That’s a lot of money.
Then they came back — after firm promises not to — for a tax abatement, which they stretched into a tax exemption. Full taxes to never-to-pay. Cost: tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars.
Now they came back again. They needed parking. So the city built two parking garages at some $40 million.
It wasn’t over. They came back for an extension of the sin tax — 10 years atop the 15 years. That’s has cost County taxpayers $88 million as of January this year. And it still costs.
So now what?
Oh, a sin tax extension OF the sin tax extension. Another 10 years? Fifteen years? Whatever they can get.
Our sports Billionaires — Randy Lerner of the Browns is leading the way and expecting to pull Larry Dolan of the Cleveland Indians along with mortgage/casino Dan Gilbert of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Three Billionaires asking for sales taxes on beer, liquor, wine and cigarettes from the many. To pay their bills.
Of course, they need a public vote. We’ll hear from all the usual voices.
HERE’S WHAT I BELIEVE IS A SOLUTION: Give it to them! All three play fields. For $1 each. Not a penny more. That’s about free, isn’t it?
How could they refuse? They like free, don’t they?
ALL cities should end subsidizing these facilities.
Yeah, sell them the both stadiums and the arena for a $1 each. They’re worth many, many millions. Just give them to them. Have it over with.
Call me a give-away artist. There are taxes already in existence to pay the public’s share of the costs for the three facilities. Heavy costs. Tough costs.
But let’s be over this welfare burden.
Now is the time to tell the sports owners — you’re on your own. Grow up.
Here’s what I say goes along with the $1 bargain: They go back on the property tax rolls. And Randy Lerner pays rent on the land, valued at $15 million, beneath the stadium. It is owned by the city. The city now pays property taxes on the land at more than $400,000 a year. (Indeed, back on the tax rolls, Browns stadium would be paying some $8 million a year; Quicken Arena, $3.8 million a year; Progressive Field $4.8 million a year, based on 2010 County figures. That’s more than $16 million per year regained in lost taxes, about half to the city’s schools.)
Over 25-30 years that’s a hell of a lot of money.
And then from now on, as it should be, the fabulously rich owners, the NFL, NBA and MLB will pay for their own workplaces. Get off the dole, you rich bastards.
Get off the public teat!
Time to pull your own weight. Isn’t that the American way. What say you Plain Dealer? What say you Kevin O’Brien, Dick Feagler, Tom Beres, all you sports reporters and commentators? Stop helping the sell out. Grow a pair.
You have already been stupendously generous to these billionaires and their millionaire employees. You have been suckers. Time to wake up. Get real.
Now for the tragic news. How immense the cost has been.
Here are some figures of the tax outlay for Gateway and the Browns stadium. Not mine. Most 2012 from the current County Auditor’s department. You welfared them:
$240.5 Million (1st 15 years of sin tax)
$116.0 Million (County general fund payments for Gateway bonds)
$38.2 Million (City admission tax for Gateway Bonds)
$8.6 Million (County Bed Taxes for Gateway Bonds)
$8.8 Million (excess from sin taxes for Gateway Bonds)
$21.3 Million (labeled as “other” for County Gateway Bonds)
$3.75 Million (County to reimburse State Loan for Gateway)
$3.75 Million (City to reimburse State Loan for Gateway)
$5.8 Million (City advance to Browns for Capital Improvements)
$2.0 Million (Repay loan from Cleveland Foundation for Gateway)
$11.5 Million (County payment on Gateway overruns)
Yeah, that much.
Total Cost thus far: $460.2 Million. This is the most comprehensive accounting of the public cost of Cleveland’s sports venues anyone has produced.
(I wonder if the IRS ever thinks of totting all this free stuff for income tax purposes. They seem ready to do it for Jimmy Dimora.)
Let’s stop this madness.
It’s not over. Some payments continue to 2023. So it will be more than $460 million.
The tab is even still higher. We could add $37 million from State of Ohio; $3 million RTA; $2.24 million Cleveland Sewer Dept.; $1/2 million City Water Dept. That’s just for Browns stadium.
I don’t have current figures for what Clevelanders are paying on bonds for the football stadium. However, by May 2009 the city had paid $102,823,947 and still owed $160,367,109 for bonds. Payments extend to 2027.
In addition to the sin tax money, the city – to pay for Browns stadium – added an 8 percent tax on all parking in the city; raised the admission tax on all events by 2 per cent; and added a $2 a car rental fee. All dedicated to pay Lerner’s bills. (A full discussion of the Browns funding is here.
All those added city taxes, plus the list above brings the total well more than a half billion dollars with many more years to pay. (Can you imagine what we are spending nationally on these sports parasites? In the billions of dollars.) And we blame teachers for our fiscal troubles?
The owners still want more. Why not if we give so easily.
The Browns and business community — Greater Cleveland Partnership leading the parade – are asking for more sin taxes at about $13-$14 million a year to be extended presumably for another 10 years. That’s another $130 to $140 million.
Let’s not be suckers again people.
PS: Please copy the list of payments for future reference because the major mainstream media will never tote up the real costs.
Roldo Bartimole celebrates 50 years of news reporting this year. He published and wrote Point of View, a newsletter about Cleveland, for 32 years. He worked for the Plain Dealer and Wall Street Journal in the 1960s.He was a 2004 Cleveland Journalism Hall of Fame recipient and won the national Joe Callaway Award for Civic Courage in 1991. [Photo by Todd Bartimole.]
7 Responses to “ROLDO: What to Do About Browns Stadium – Sell It for 1 Buck!”
Sean Watterson
One other point to add on admissions taxes – the rates were raised from 3% to 6% when the Gateway stadiums were built. The money from the additional admissions taxes were dedicated to repay the bonds issued to build the Gateway parking garages. To add insult to injury, the City and the County entered into an agreement with the Cavaliers to give the team a discount on their admissions taxes. The Cavs only pay 5% on NBA-related activities at the Q, while the city cracks down on small clubs for the full 8%. The sports teams are the primary beneficiaries of the admissions taxes – the clubs get no benefit from the admissions taxes. See Section 195.03(f) of the City of Cleveland Code of Ordinances for more information on the Cavalier discount.
Allen Freeman
Dead on, Roldo. This is a concept both liberals and conservatives should agree on easily (and I fall into the latter category).
There is zero justification for the subsidizing of professional sports. It’s utterly absurd, the concept that wealthy athletes and team owners who earn money primarily from well-to-do consumers (the poor don’t go to the games) and television networks bring something so unique to the public that the enterprises should be subsidized by taxpayers.
What a sales job you have to make to get a majority agreement on that idea!
If the voters of Cuyahoga County fall for this clap-trap again, they are imbeciles. (Maybe the games distract people enough from real economic issues that all common sense goes out the window in such a decision. Who knows.)
No more free rides for professional sports teams!
Roldo Bartimole
Thanks for your comments. I can’t see for some reason the entire first post but after this appears it will clear up.
Allen, you are right this is an issue that right or left should be able to agree upon.
And the mention of sports on TV is another gift because the teams make millions on using the public airwaves and the cities, counties and states that provide subsidies never get a penny of television revenue.
It’s madness.
Roldo Bartimole
Well, I still can’t read the firs post but from what I gather the writer makes note of admission taxes going to pay for the Gateway garages. The city has unloaded one for the new casino but the garages have been big money losers and the writer is correct one of the sources is the city’s admission tax.
I’ll never forget the debate over these garages and Fannie Lewis telling fellow council members that they “have a hog tied.” She was, of course, right.
snorky
Do not forget that the first Gateway sin tax failed at the pols , and the second was granted a , [ sic ] 49 1/2 per cent victory.
No recall!
You bet!
Tim Hagan! You bet! All the media cheer leaders sucking away at dick jacobs teats only led to the mess we have inherited today.
You are so right Roldo! Sell the corporate sports welfare boys their playgrounds back or just plain plead poverty and walk away.
Roldo Bartimole
Walk away! Thanks Snorky. That sounds like a great campaign slogan against an extended sin tax.
Should I have buttons made. I did for Gateway but it didn’t work.
They said, “Let Jacobs Pay.”
The 99%
Very good this is brought to the public. It is getting way out of hand. The ultra sad thing is that the more we place all our eggs in one basket–building an economy around sports–the more we homogenize this local economy, become overly dependent on these entities..and when they fail, we all go down with them.
It leaves the city thinking we have to rely on “LeBron” to save the day and it is utter b.s. and enough, already. The city should thrive by NOT relying on sports only… NOT relying on some big mega manufacturing corporation to come in and save the day for us, whereby actually crippling society in the process… when we lose our know how to make a real self sustaining community that has many who know many trades…in favor of relying on the big guy to employ, house, clothe, feed, us all! How does such strengthen anyone when it makes us co-dependent?
Alternatively, diversity in the economy breeds stability…a few things fail, several others to pick up the slack. Same goes for the natural ecosystem in that the more diverse it is, the stronger and healthier that particular environment as many perform many beneficial functions. This spending leaves us heavily addicted to this stuff. But, this is what we get for adhering solely to this archaic trickle down economics lie. Let’s restore some balance and reward Mom and Pop too…afterall, they took care of us and our neighborhoods for centuries…