Just in case you were thinking that that $655 million Astrodome-renovation-plus-Reliant-Arena-replacement was going to be paid for by elfin magic or something, Harris County officials are here to assure you that no, public costs cost the public:
Bill Jackson, the county's chief budget officer, said such a large bond issue likely would require a tax hike or deep budget cuts, particularly given other projects for which the county will need to sell bonds, such as a forensic sciences facility.
If it's not a surprising conclusion, it is a slightly surprising public declaration, seeing that saying "this will require tax hikes" is akin to saying "this will kill puppies" in terms of public opinion in America today. It's further evidence in favor of the argument that the plan announced yesterday is more stalking horse than serious proposal, but we'll see.
Incidentally, a clarification on the public cost of the plan: Construction would cost $655 million, but Houston taxpayers would only be on the hook for $523 million, with the rest coming via federal historic preservation tax credits — i.e., non-Houston taxpayers. Since this is a credit that's available to anyone renovating a historic building (Fenway Park got preservation credits as well) I don't usually count it as a special subsidy, but it's arguably still a public cost. So headlines saying this is a $523 million deal or a $655 million deal are both equally right — or equally wrong, if you want to be that way.
from Field of Schemes http://www.fieldofschemes.com/news/archives/2012/05/4962_astrodome_reno_1.html
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