Merry Christmas to Cadillac Jack’s from the Deadwood City Commission, which last week approved $2 million in tax increment financing to make possible another expansion of the casino:
The city commitment on the project is $2 million from property tax revenue in the district.
“The remaining $790,827 will have to be picked up by the owners,” said Deadwood planning and zoning administrator Bob Nelson, Jr.
Ted Schultz, senior project manager, who made the recommendation to award the contract to RCS, following the bid opening, estimates the total public work project costs including utility fee relocations, engineering fees and related costs to be $3,191,977.
Other public work in the tax incremental financing district (TIFD) includes removals, demolition and mobilization, a soil nail wall, excavation and retaining walls for utilities, street improvements, water and sewer, burying overhead utilities, a pedestrian crossing/improvements bridge, storm sewer and detention, streetscaping and lighting.
Nelson said that public work is work that ultimately would be the responsibility of the municipality to improve, maintain, or repair public infrastructure [Jaci Conrad Pearson, “$2.8 Million Cadillac Jack’s TIF 10 Public Work Projects Awarded,” Black Hills Pioneer, 2016.12.22].
The pedestrian bridge (a useful addition in car-oriented Deadwood) will cost $79,600. According to Schultz, construction should begin in January and wrap up in May 2018, at which time we can all head to Cadillac Jack’s and celebrate the taxpayers’ role in ensuring that private business can grow.
Thats a fact Jack.
Expand Medicaid, a Billion for the state, life for thousands, cost zero. Expand Jack’s, pittance for the state, tens of thousands in the owners personal bankroll, cost at least 2 million from taxpayers. When you do not have the EB5 to corrupt the system with, you can always sucker the taxpayers. It makes you wonder that if these are such great deals, why aren’t the bankers flocking to loan the cheap money too? Bankers are setting on millions of bucks, but are not interested in investing? Why could that be? Capitalism is not for everyone, it seems to now be only for the oligarchs or wannabe’s.
We are upside down. TIF’s should be used for public works, not for working over the public.
Related to health care is what will happen to coal miners’ pensions. Does the federal government step in or not? Like many veterans, they have sacrificed their lives for the public good (we got electricity, they got black lung).
Coal country Republicans tend to be in favor of supporting the pensions. Other Republicans are not in favor of stepping in to save pensions of any sort….would set a precedent in their view. But they will face questions then as to whether they really support coal country or not.
Currently they have kicked the can into the next legislative session, so they have been temporarily funded.
So, are you saying that the coal miners should come to Deadwood and gamble to see if they can improve their pensions?
Trump’s continuously misnamed “infrastructure plan” is – of course – a Federal level TIF program just like this for private investors. It will entail ZERO public works.
I sincerely wish the media would label that turkey for the turkey dinner for the members of the royal court it is vs. the incoming admin’s. preferred, deceptive “Christmas ham and taters for everyone” inferred by the term “infrastructure plan”.
If you can show that one saves money by instituting these programs (Medicaid expansion, retirement security, health care) instead of cutting everybody loose and fending for themselves, then the conversation should be much different when choices are made. If they support coal country (which in theory pushed Trump to victory in large part), then some of these items will receive higher priority.
I really cannot show anything other that what others show. I think if you take a look at this, it might suggest that with Medicaid Expansion, taxpayer monies are saved by not having to foot the bill for medical costs as they do in states that presently have expanded Medicaid. http://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/20/obamacares-medicaid-expansion-leading-to-health-insurance-boom-in-some-states.html
Believe it or not, coal country voted in governments that are hostile to Medicaid, the ACA. Considering that, it shows that they are really not concerned with black lung or any kinds of entitlements that they should have given what they sacrificed. I am thinking that the coal miners thought that they had a choice on if they wanted to work the mines or leave, so they voted to not take the benefits as a matter of pride.
Now, regarding the TIF for Deadwood, I am trying to wrap my head around how that benefits the citizens more than it does the owners. Your a doc, doc, what do you think? Do the benefits of a TIF actually enhance the lives of taxpayers or do they just enhance the pocketbooks of the owners?
Prof. McTaggart:
The entire civilized world has shown since WWII that everyone saves money by instituting these programs (Medicaid expansion, retirement security, health care) instead of cutting everybody loose and fending for themselves, yet somehow Republicans cling to their failed paradigm. It’s proven continually that buying things that we all use as a group is cheaper. Cops, schools, roads, healthcare and on and on. Have you ever shopped at a Co-Op or a Sam’s Club? You pay a small fee and get much cheaper prices by buying as a group. Cutting everyone loose is great if you own a company selling necessities at higher prices but who owns a business like that? Oh, yeah. Wealthy Republican campaign donors do. Depicting socialism as evil works well, in some states.
Jerry, if we were living in a truly free market, then TIFs should not be necessary…but we don’t. TIFs may allow cities to get others to spend some money that they wouldn’t have spent otherwise. It really only makes sense if Deadwood makes this money back and then some. But that doesn’t mean there are not other forms of spending for the public good that should be neglected.
Porter, I’m with you on that. Let’s have good government with a holistic, long-term approach. Utter nihilism won’t work.
Doc, there is no argument in what a TIF should be. It should only be used for the public good. By that it could be used for development of an area for suitable homes that would fit lower tiered income based future homeowners. That makes sense. The TIF could be utilized for an entire area for development of commercial use, I have no problem with that.
This TIF does not fit those kinds of developments. This appears to be specific for a specific business venture. The business venture is privately run as a for profit business. The bank should be the prime in this venture, complete.
Just an anecdote … I live in a little town of 41,000 with a big aerospace presence (Lockheed-Martin spacecraft factory). It’s a popular town for retail business. The voters became weary of the city council giving TIF money and other perks to businesses moving here. We passed an IM that put every gift of TIF or otherwise up to a simple public vote. All hell broke loose in the City Council (very conservative group) over their power being checked. Since the new law, the City Council outright abandoned the city expansion plan in protest. However, many new large businesses and retail expansions have moved here anyway, which is a matter of consternation to the Council. It showed that you don’t have to give away tax money better used in parks, roads and schools just to attract something that should want to move in, no matter what.
I don’t mind trying to use TIFs to enhance the economic diversity of a city or town (for instance, if everything depends on the local mill and the mill closes, that is not good). But I would think that TIFs for affordable housing for employees of businesses you are trying to attract would be part of the package then.
Housing for employees is used a lot in ski area towns. I’m for it, even for eminent domain, if it’s put up to a vote. Our elections are mail-in ballots and pretty cheap. Using the idea that you can vote out an elected official that’s misbehaving is too lengthy a process. If a project is said to be good for the voters, let the voters decide if it really is.
Affordable housing for workers is always a challenge in resort towns and areas. There seems to be a lack of that in the Lead Deadwood area. http://www.bhpioneer.com/classifieds/housing/rent/
Here is a worthwhile TIF project that literally gains traction. http://www.ecowatch.com/world-first-solar-road-france-2162145217.html We need more of this and less gambling.
At least they are trying to use the energy to power lighting and not the cars themselves.
That would bring a whole new set of ideas and projects. The road powering the vehicle, kind of like..wait for it..a train. Damn, I knew that was coming.
There is a way to deliver electricity to vehicles on the road by induction, but that kind of system needs a much bigger power source than a solar road could deliver.
TIFs for building solar farms to power local schools so that there is more money for teachers? OK.
Deadwood could have used a TIF for its streets to make them solar collectors. More people would come to Deadwood to see that and marvel at the thinking to make this happen. Las Vegas is now 100% solar, so Deadwood could be it’s little brother in that regard. More people, more revenue. More revenue, more economic development in areas other than gambling. A win win, pun intended.
I think they offset their power use with solar, not that they only use solar. That lunar power doesn’t work too well in the casinos.
Public pain, private gain. This is what “we” do in South Dakota. TIF’s are totally misused.
What did then Gov Mike Rounds do with millions of stimulus money in ’09? Gave it away to his cronies. One stimulus check cut, was a multi-million dollar Prairie Hills Transit building in Spearfish. It didn’t create any jobs or stimulate the economy, like the stimulus was supposed to do. However, it gave a primo-office to its executive director – friend to Mike Rounds.
Cadillac Jack’s really couldn’t afford their own expansion? Seriously? Well, then again, I guess “they” look at it this way. SD gets alot of their revenue from “sin taxes” in this state. This so-called Christian state. So expansion of a casino for gambling, equates to more sin taxes for the state! Woo hoo!!!
Solar roads….probably the dumbest idea I have yet to hear, and that is not just coming from myself, but from solar proponents all around the world. Why build solar at such an expensive rate with diminished returns and a much faster deterioration rate? Even at their optimal rate, it would only produce maybe half the energy of normal panel setups. Not to mention, we still have to deal with road effects because your car is now driving on a different surface. This is one of those things that they should have wondered if they should do it, rather than if they could do it.
“How about we raise them about 2m into the air so people don’t step on them and won’t damage them. That way we could make them cheaper.
Also if we angle them slightly to the south they will produce more energy.”
The problem with solar is not about running out of places to put them. We have more than enough locations. Heck, you could build them beside the road, not reduce road friction which could kill people, not have to worry about them being destroyed, and you would get twice the energy.
I’m all for solar, but solar roads are @$#@$#@$ stupid!
Yes Solar roads are probably the dumbest idea yet to hear for you. So I guess the idea of TIF public funds given to a private company is brilliant, well played sir, well played.
I am not sold on solar roads. I want people to show how solar rooftops can actually work first.
I can do that Grudz
The Blindman
TIFs were intended for depleted run down neighborhoods. Did the casino make the neighborhood bad?
Ha! Good point, Roger. Let’s review the requirements for TIF Districts laid out in SDCL 11-9-8:
If I’m reading that correctly, there need not be any blight, as long as at least half of the district will promote economic development. I assume the casino qualifies as “commercial” resources.