Thursday, July 19, 2007

Letter

Left the letter at home so no analysis of the Mayor's proposal today. However, I see from today's DE that a good chunk of the proposed sales tax, $20 million over 20 years, will go to fund the athletic portion of the Saluki Way project, the stadium and Arena. The rationale is that Carbondale derives significant economic benefit from Saluki athletics through people stying in hotels and eating at restaurants while attending sporting and other events, so helping SIUC draw more people to them puts more dollars in Carbondale coffers. Imagine what would happen if the money went towards building the university as a whole. But I digress.

The city is promising $20 million, assuming the sales take passes City Council. That's abut 25 % of the estimated cost. Student fees cover another $38 million (wasn't Saluki Way supposed to be funded through donations, with little reliance on student fees, rather like the way Iraq was supposed to pay for its own rebuilding?) which takes care of another 47% of the cost. That leaves 36% of the cost, or 22 million to come from private donations, or potential private donations. From the wording of the store, it appears the university has made little headway in raising private money for the project.

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