Fiscal 2023 DIF Account

on
1

Polar Park DIF Zone Map

on

 Could only find a .pdf

(CLICK ON LINK ABOVE)

Only net gains in real estate taxes can go towards the bond payments.   

 

Let us give an example of how the DIF works.

  • Assume prior to the establishment of the DIF this area paid a total of $1,500,000 in annual taxes.
  • The City then invests $159,500,000  into the DIF (Polar Park).
  • The hope is this will spur investments into the DIF driving up the real estate taxes.

 

Assume that this were to work and the real estate tax collections were to increase to $2,000,000.  Only excess collection would go toward the bond payments. 

  1.  $1,500,000 would still go to the General Fund
  2.  $500,000 in this example would go to Bond payments

 

Although many projects have been discussed (Madison Phase I, Left Field Building, Cove, Table Talk), when will the real estate taxes in the DIF exceed what  was collected before the establishment of the DIF???     Too bad we did not have an updated proforma..   


 


 



Comments

Anonymous said…
Those properties were previously empty, polluted and an eyesore. What kind of economic activity and property taxes were they producing before? Seriously, some people would prefer to see a vacant wasteland instead of what is there now. Of course, we live in Worcester so this is what we deserve, right?
January 11, 2022 at 4:29 PM
Anonymous said…
I don’t believe that anyone would want a vacant polluted eyesore versus something, but did the something have to cost taxpayers $175,000,000 to allow a private company to use to lever up their own value to billions and leave town with them? The city bore ALL of the risk and put up essentially all of the money.

That’s the issue.
January 11, 2022 at 5:48 PM
Common Sense said…
I don't know much about all these accounting details. I have a military and healthcare background. I take Bill at his word since he has a degree in accounting. Maybe we can have the best of both worlds: a thriving airport and a thriving Canal District.
January 11, 2022 at 7:05 PM
Anonymous said…
No one is questioning the appearance now compared to before. Concern is being expressed because the ball park cost almost doubled,the development has not advanced as originally reported ,the City has said they are not prepared to account for the the revenues and expenses and they have not given a financial update in two years. Individually each of these items deserves questioning, collectively they raise concerns. If we were talking a few million dollars I don't think people would be as concerned but we are talking about $175 million of public funds.
January 11, 2022 at 10:38 PM
Anonymous said…
A thought just occurred to me after I posted my comment, our expectations. I expect good public safety, good public works (streets,trash and water&sewer) and good schools being paid with my taxes. The City went beyond what are our are normal expectations and "invested" in the construction the ball park and set a new expectation that the project would not cost us taxpayers. Then the cost overruns,75% of the original budget, occurred and the development which was expected to pay for the ball park has been delayed. It is logical to ask questions to see if the expectations which were set by the City are still valid. On a side note I will say the states reconstruction of the peanut exceeded expectations. This leads me to my final comment. Government's involvement in development should be limited to infrastructure and let the private sector develop non governmental buildings because an "investment" of public funds could become a gamble of public funds.
January 11, 2022 at 11:00 PM
Anonymous said…
The private sector had 50 years or more to do something with this property and nothing happened. It would have been empty and vacant for another 100 years if we waited for the private sector. I’m all for the free market but sometimes the government needs to come in and make things happen. Also, you are forgetting a once in a century pandemic delayed some construction. Ten years from now we will all be thankful this project happened.
January 12, 2022 at 3:42 AM
Anonymous said…
If you went 75% over budget on a project for your job, what would happen to you?

Buggy Siegel went less than that over budget in Las a Vegas and look, at what happened to him.

Why is no one paying the price for this boondoggle?

It was a complete dodgy project to begin with and it just continued to get worse to this day.
January 12, 2022 at 5:35 AM
Common Sense said…
Bob Kraft asked the state for money when he wanted to build the new Gillette Stadium.
The state turned it down so he ended up having to finance the whole thing himself. The state did pay to update the road network to and from the stadium, but the politicians in Boston made it clear that
he wasn't getting any money for the stadium.
January 12, 2022 at 6:40 AM
Post a Comment