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— Quincy Massachusetts News by Quincy Quarry News – News, Opinion and Commentary
Mayor Tom Koch’s Quincy Center PowerPoint?
A Koch campaign mailer image
At tonight’s Quincy City Council April First meeting, Quincy Mayor Tom Koch will be presenting a $157 million debt issuance request to prop up his arguably foundering plans for redeveloping Quincy Center.
Unfortunately for long-suffering taxpayers, this huge ask is not a Tomfoolery Day fooling around prank.
Rather, the proposal is better seen as Mayor Tom Koch’s latest koch and mirrors hustle.
For starters, per Quincy Quarry’s financial analysis personnel, Mayor Koch’s Quincy Center redevelopment special tax district looks to all but assuredly be currently running a several million to upwards of a $5 million annual operating shortfall this year.
Even worse, the shortfall will likely roughly at least double by 2030 when $140 million in currently interest-only paying outstanding debt has to rollover to principal and interest paying municipal bond debt even if a variety of touted pending projects and hoped for projects might actually be built and so producing local property tax revenue by 2030.
Look out below!
A barrons.com graphic
In turn, given many years of future runnings in the red arising from Mayor Koch’s grandiose plan to remake Quincy Center, the Quarry’s quants are further sensing a Net Present Value (“NPV”) deficit conservatively projected to max out at $100 million or more.
Even worse, merely but fractional annual paybacks will likely not commence any sooner than a generation from now around 2050 when most of the already outstanding roughly $225 million in Quincy Center redevelopment debt is paid down.
In turn, merely but recouping the projected at least 100 large deficit on a proper all things considered NPV basis will not occur any sooner than the latter decades of the 21st Century and thus on the order of a couple of couple generations or so down the road.
Burn rate, up in smoke — whatever
A cheatsheet.com image
Worse yet, if the City Council approve Mayor Koch’s $157 million additional debt ask, the NPV deficit would likely soar upwards of $200 million or more as well as most likely not be recouped until at best no sooner than perhaps around the start of the twenty-second century and thus at least three generations out or thereabouts.
Finally,to underscore just how dubious is Koch’s $157 million debt authorization ask, his proposal includes seeking the approval to use this bond debt issuance proceeds to pay for the interest of some unknown amount of the debt’s interest expense.
In other words, all but literally picking Peter’s pocket to pay Paul via a potentially epic kiting of the cost can down the road.
Way down the road as well as surely at no small cost to those stuck with covering the nut.
Spring is here, time for the rubber-stampers to get their rubber stamps ready to go.
Ah, it’s that time of the year again – April Fool’s Day, where politicians try to pull off their own brand of pranks. But leave it to Mayor Tom Koch to take it to the next level with a $157 million debt issuance request disguised as a redevelopment plan for Quincy Center. Talk about commitment to the joke! Sadly, this isn’t just a playful prank, it’s a real-life punchline for taxpayers who are left footing the bill for Koch’s grand schemes. Who needs a good laugh when you can have crippling debt, am I right? Here’s to hoping the city council sees through this April Fool’s charade and doesn’t let taxpayers become the punchline.
James,
A minor quibble: more like Quincy taxpayers are being set up by Mayor Koch to be punching bags than punchlines as at the end of the day there is no such thing as a free lunch.