Politicians are creative people. Sometimes that is to our benefit, but too often their creativity leads them to do things that make our lives more difficult and more costly.
One way that political creativity increases our cost of living is through “Grand Projects:” convention centers, sports arenas, amusement parks, zoos and other recreational facilities. Each time a city gets involved in a grand project its elected officials assure taxpayers that the involvement will be either temporary or that it is so incredibly profitable that it will bring in far more in new tax revenues than the money they are investing.
A quick reality check says something entirely different. Most tax-funded grand projects cause more budgetary headache than economic development. Despite this, politicians across the country continue to put their creativity to work in new grand projects, using taxpayers as self-replenishable ATMs to fund them.
The latest city to join the ranks of grand projects is Casper, Wyo.. From the Wyoming Business Report:
The Casper City Council will conduct interviews today and Friday with a pair of respondents to the city’s request for proposals to build a hotel and convention center in the community. The first interview will be this afternoon (Tuesday), according to Casper Mayor Paul Bertoglio. The second interview will follow this Friday. City officials and community leaders have lamented the lack of a modern convention center in Casper and have cited lost convention business that went to Cheyenne or other locations in the region. “Casper is an ideal regional meeting location,” Bertoglio said. He noted that Casper has good airline service and highway accessibility as well. … With regard to financing, Bertoglio said the facility will not be built without participation by the city. … “The big challenge is location,” Bertoglio said, adding that he doesn’t believe a site far outside of the downtown Casper area would be workable. He mentioned the Platte River Commons (the former Amoco refinery) and a location on North Center Street as desirable places for the center. “We’re just looking for the best combination of qualities that maximize the possibility of success and do not put the city in the position of having to make long-term financial commitments,” he said.
Bertoglio might want to do his homework. For starters, why not give the mayor of Omaha, Neb., a call? Their Qwest Center has become a financial quagmire for the city. Or why not check out the failure of the convention center in Raleigh, N.C.? It, too, was supposed to stand on its own feet financially. However, “increasing competition for national convention business” – often subsidized by other taxpayers – has forced the city of Raleigh to remain an active partner, and even consider throwing more money after the center.
Or check out Destination Hilliard in Ohio, where the mayor first went ahead and approved tax money for the convention center, then realized that the city really could not afford the project. The city council disagreed and imposed a tourist-targeting tax to keep funding their convention center. The tax was never part of the original plans for the grand project.
It is unlikely that the city of Casper will be discouraged by the waste of tax money going on elsewhere in the convention center business. In fact, if the convention center does not turn out to be the rosy success story it is being sold as, there is always the risk that the city will just move on to its next grand project. But just as convention centers and hotels are best run by private businesses, so are sports arenas, amusement parks and zoos. These projects are always sold as a temporary investment for taxpayers, but almost always become a permanent expense item in the government budget.
A good example is Little Rock, Ark., where the city cuts down on law enforcement while pouring an endless stream of taxpayers’ money into the city zoo and other recreational facilities.
The city of Vista, Calif., is another good example of what grand projects can do to a city budget. Last year the city council decided to turn off street lights in a boneheaded attempt to cut the city budget. At the same time, the city is continuously funding The Wave Waterpark. In the fiscal year right before the street light shut-off, Vista taxpayers were forced to shovel $2 million into the fun park.
Using taxpayers as an open-ended line of free credit for grand projects is not only financially reckless, but outright immoral. It would be far better for everyone if the politicians and city bureaucrats who concoct these grand projects used their creativity instead to start private businesses; you know: actual private businesses who make money on a free, open market. Perhaps then they could do some good for their neighbors.
