SAY NO TO OUTDOORS RETAIL SUBSIDIES

Prattville to Borrow $48 Million

Publication date: 2005-11-01

By Marty Roney, Montgomery Advertiser, Ala.

Nov. 1--PRATTVILLE -- The city of Prattville is borrowing $48 million for incentives to lure large retail interests to the east side of town. Officials are calling the move an "investment," predicting the new shopping centers will generate about $9.4 million a year in sales tax revenue and license fee collections.

The incentive package also includes money to build an 8,000-square-foot conference center adjacent to the Legends complex near the Capitol Hill golf facility. The conference center will be operated by the Retirement Systems of Alabama, which also owns the golf facility and hotel.

"I would rather not pay incentives, but I live in the real world and this is the way the game is played," Mayor Jim Byard said. "We feel the amount of money coming in each year will more than offset the cost of the bond issue which will fund the incentives. Some people will complain about us spending this money. But they are likely the same people who would complain if we didn't land these retail clients, and these businesses went to other communities in our area."

Figures provided by City Hall show anticipated bond payments of $3.8 million a year over the 20-year life of the bond. Once the two large shopping centers are up and running, they will produce about $9.4 million in new sales tax and business license collections a year, Byard said. Subtracting the $3.8 million payment from that amount leaves a net revenue increase of about $5.6 million a year.

City calculations state that is a 68 percent return on investment and a 26 percent increase in the city's operating budget. Prattville's operating budget this year is about $21.5 million.

"Man, that's a lot of money, $48 million," said Mac Harrison of Prattville. "But I guess it's one of those things where you have to spend money to make money. If we can make the bond payments out of the money these new shopping centers are going to produce, it sounds like a good idea to me."

Kaye Forester, a Prattville native, disagrees.
"Why should I pay for Bass Pro Shops and Target and Parisians to build new stores? What happened to private enterprise?" she said. "If the market is here, and I believe it is, these companies should pay their own way. I don't care how much money the city will get in taxes. Public money shouldn't go to private interests."

Plans call for a 400,000-square-foot shopping center near the intersection of Cobbs Ford and Redfield roads. Target likely will be an anchor for that development. On the north side of the intersection, McClinton and Company has plans for a 450,000-square-foot shopping center that will have a Bass Pro Shops as one of its anchors. Artist drawings of the McClinton project show it will be similar to The Shoppes at EastChase.

The incentive package is spelled out in documents filed in Autauga County Circuit Court. A law passed last year compels municipal governments to appear before a judge to show how public dollars will be spent on economic development projects. The "validation" process requires a judge to determine if the city financially is able to meet the debt payments. Judge Ben Fuller will hold the hearing at 3 p.m. Nov. 30 at the Autauga County Courthouse.