Who stands to profit here. Who’s making money on the deal? And who’s losing? Spoiler alert: this is a sucky deal for taxpayers.
I don’t know, if my city is going to spend this much money, I expect them to WOW me! I’m not WOW’d in the least bit. Think about what we are spending our money on and what we are getting.
WHAT DO TAXPAYERS GET?
We get development and taxes. But we also get increased costs. It’s questionable if any new taxes result in new services for the community. And until the TIF closes the schools and county and MATC wait.
We get jobs that already exist. That the state is also paying for. So we pay twice.
We get parking that competes with our parking utility.
We get a hotel that is smaller than we wanted, if, and its a BIG IF, if it gets built.
We get a Project-Labor Agreement we haven’t seen and a Labor Peace Agreement that hasn’t been agreed upon.
We get a company downtown that may be gone in a few years for various reasons and a big empty building we need to recruit another business to.
We get to pay interest on borrowing $10M, so we can lend most of it to the school district so we can pay interest on it again.
We get a promise of hiring people of color for the lowest paid, shittiest – and this case that is literal – jobs.
No place to park for 17 months while the parking ramp is torn down.
Traffic snarls of new proportions during and after construction.
More pressure on our crushed rental housing market.
I’m not WOW’d.
WHO GETS THE MONEY
Exact Sciences is getting $12M for jobs that already exist.
JDS is getting parking at $15/stall per month and renting it for $140/mopnth
JDS is getting a cheap parking ramp – paying a max of $6M in 27 years for a $20M project today.
JDS is getting $12 – $14M of property for less than $2M.
George Austin is making a pretty penny in consulting fees. Hundreds of thousands by now. (waiting for the open records request that I suspect I get tomorrow) In November 2013 Austin had made $120,000 in consulting fees. It’s been almost another 2 years, with more intensive work.
The top 3 employees of Exact Sciences have gotten paid over $20M in three years in salary, bonus, stocks and options. Perhaps part of that $12M for jobs isn’t needed?
Kevin Conroy (chariman, president, CEO) – 2014
$493,833 in salary
367,250 in bonuses
1,084,537 in options
1,088,880 in stock
15,600 in other compensation
$3,050,000 total.In 2013 it was $4,057,778
In 2012 it was $2,705,615
Maneesh Arora (Sr. VP, CEO) – 2014
Salary 390,000
Bonus 248,600
Options 621,144
Stock 614,240
Other 15,600
Total $1,889,584.00In 2013 it was $2,336,570.00
In 2012 it was $1,295,700.00
Graham Lidgard (Sr. VP, Chief Science Officer)
Salary 357,017
Bonus 161,364
Options 463,393
Stock 460,680
Other 15,600
Total $1,458,054.00In 2013 it was $2,302,570.00
In 2012 it was $1,295,700.00
TOTAL = $20,391,671
The board members of JDS, including our former governor is making over $1.5M combined in fees and stock awards.
Thomas D. Carey 60,000 fees + 140,000 stock = $200,000
James P. Connelly $20,000 in other compensation
Sally W. Crawford 67,000 fees + 140,000 stock = $207,000
James E. Doyle 55,000 fees + 350,000 = $405,000
Daniel J. Levangie 55,000 fees + 140,000 stock = $195,000
Katherine S. Napier 62,000 fees + 140,000 stock = $202,000
Lionel N. Sterling 61,000 fees + 140,000 stock = $201,000
David A. Thompson 80,000 fees + 140,000 stock = $220,000
Total = $1,650,000
WHAT WE AREN’T GETTING
Affordable Housing Money from closing the TIF. If we closed the TIF we’d get $4M for affordable housing, now we have to wait and they keep forgetting to allow for the TIF to remain open for a year for that affordable housing money in the future.
A real equity analysis
Meaningful community benefits
Conclusion
Bottom line: This deal sucks. It sucks as a tax payer. We get minimal benefits, all the risks and all the hassles and no real meaningful benefits.
Email your alders. Tell them this stinks. (allalders@cityofmadison.com) Make sure to include your address so they know you are a constituent.
