When can 32 acres be had for $743.33 per month in Baltimore County? When you?re the Baltimore Ravens.
Let?s do the math. According to the Baltimore County Department of Economic Development, open land to be used for industrial purposes can be purchased for between $90,000 and $300,000 per acre. Using a median price of $195,000, that translates to $6.24 million for the property, which the team leases from taxpayers.
A monthly mortgage payment on a 30-year loan at 6 percent equals more than $37,400.
Hmm. So that means theoretically Ravens pay 2 percent of actual costs and taxpayers pay 98 percent.
We?re not being totally fair. The team paid $743.33 prior to building its facility. Since occupancy, it has been required to pay “one-twelfth of the county portion of the adjusted real property tax which would be due in the premises, not to exceed $300,000,” according to its lease, signed in 2002. It also must pay a 3 percent rent increase every year after the facility is built. One-twelfth of the adjusted real property tax is still not a bad deal. That works out to$25,750 per month ? $309,000 per year in 2006.
That?s about $140,000 less per year than it would owe if it had purchased the land itself, according to The Examiner?s estimate of the land value. And that does not even take into account the value of the team?s 200,000-square-foot facility.
This break also does not include the “free” infrastructure built for the team by the county, including extending sanitary and water services and building an access road. By press time, the county had not yet responded to an Examiner request for information on how much the county spent and spends to provide those services to the team.
What does the team provide in return? The county is allowed to use a portion of the facility at least three times per year for public functions, all of which must be mutually agreed upon. It is also supposed to spend $200,000 on a lighted football field for public use that has not yet materialized, according to a Dec. 2 Examiner report. The team does not provide a break to Baltimore County residents on ticket prices, which range from $40 for nosebleed seats to $315 for midfield seats with club services. How many families on an average yearly household income of $70,000 in Baltimore County can afford to attend a team game?
We the people deserve to know how much the team pays the county for its training facilities. It would also behoove the county to disclose how the team?s presence economically impacts it. County residents must not be forced to subsidize through their taxes a team that provides little more than star power.
