Each meeting the Polar Park Oversight Board should ask for a monthly report on monies raised in the Polar Park DIF.
Remember this from the WBJ Journal story
Tracking ballpark district finances
Even though Augustus has called the stadium paying for itself his North Star, the city doesn’t have revenue and expenses accounts set up to ensure that is 100% true, as Worcester is relying on what McGourthy, the city’s CFO, describes as the spreadsheet approach.
City officials are simply tracking the ballpark expenses and the district revenues to ensure the project pays for itself, McGourthy said. The ballpark tax district won’t have a separate account set up in the city budget until fiscal 2023, which starts on July 1, 2022.
As of July 1, 2022 the account will be set up and each month a report should be given to the Polar Park Oversight Board along with what will be the corresponding bond payment for that fiscal year. That way taxpayers will not exactly how much Polar Park is costing the taxpayers.
If you ask this taxpayer that should be the main goal of the oversight board?????
It should be the 1st item on every agenda:
1) DIF collections fiscal year to date versus Bond payments for that fiscal year
*** No need to have an updated proforma really when we have real live numbers? But now we just need to see them...
Fitch Report
Debt service on borrowings associated with the ballpark are planned to be paid from revenues generated in the district improvement financing area (DIF) and include property, meals and use taxes, and parking and team lease payments. The bond structures included capitalized interest through 2024 which along with a DIF reserve funded in part from a sale of property, will help mitigate the delay in full receipt of expected property tax revenues from new development until it is completed.
Projected shortfalls, which Fitch considers to be manageable based on cashflows provided by management, would be subsidized by the operating budget and not result in a material financial impact to the city.
Comments
Of course, there will be numerous tax increases from now until then and the 5 cowards on the city council that yearn to increase the commercial tax rate every year, and to a lesser extent, residential tax rates need to have the factors hidden to avoid loaipsing an election and their free health insurance and salary.
Exposing the facts might lead to accountability and Worcester cannot have that
I think what bothers me as much as having to pay tax dollars towards a ball park which was not suppose to cost the taxpayers is the City is not taxing the WooSox for the ball park they are leasing, which the law says they should. Not only am I paying for the building which they are making millions in revenues, they get a free ride from paying for the services that benefit them as much as me.
In addition to you continuing posts, I hope that the Worcester Business Journal does not get scared off by Augustus calling them negative. Reporting on facts is not negative it is just reporting.