Friend and government watchdog Tom Bazan passes along his letter on the soccer stadium deal, which apparently was published on the Chron editorial page this week:
The taxpayers paid $15 million for the land that is being so generously donated. Where do the taxpayers benefit from that?
The city and county taxpayers are going to pay for $20 million in special infrastructure for the stadium. (“A new venue; Soccer stadium a done deal for Dynamo,” Page A1, Dec. 3).
The debt service payments for 30 years, at 5 percent interest, will be more than $1.3 million per year.
The Sports Authority has twisted the Dynamo’s corporate arm and will be charging $65,000 per year in rent. How do taxpayers benefit from that?
The TIRZ 15 — the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone around the stadium – will be floating the bonds for this. The first word in TIRZ is tax. So the taxpayers will have to shoulder the $75 million in bonds to build the boondoggle.
The TIRZ already has special benefits and incentives for the developers, which are passed through to the taxpayers. So how does this benefit the taxpayers?
Sounds like the win-win is for the developer and ruling class at the expense of the taxpayers.
Tom Bazan, Houston
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