Budget

[detwaa84]

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article...EWS01/704130325

Can someone please tell me what she meant by this statement..........

......."Did you sell your soul to the devil?" Councilwoman Barbara-Rose Collins quipped.

As for the tunnel....would the proposed lease begin in 2020? So they'll pay us $75 million this year but won't have the full interest in it till 2020 for 75 years? I need clarification! Thanx!

[jbr12]

I'm guessing that comment was said sarcastically... As in, "The only way you could've balanced the budget was by selling your soul to the devil"

Just the way I took it I guess

[RustTown]

Yeah, I took it as an "everything and the kitchen sink" statement. With such a difficult budget to construct, I'm with Barbara-Rose Collins. What other palms did he have to grease, what other buttons did he have to push, to come up with this one? The man is turning into quite the mayor, these days.

[Jasoncw]

75 million for 75 years? That seems really low to me, and not really worth it.

But what does Canada owning the bridge imply for us? Does that mean that they basically have to maintain and operate it themselves, and then pay us money to do so? I don't know the specifics of any of this, but I do know that they will only buy it if they think it's a good investment and a good thing to have, and if that's the case, then we're the ones on the bad end of the deal.

[RustTown]

The article says the idea of leasing our half of the tunnel to Windsor is already supported in Windsor, so they obviously see some benefit in the deal. Detroit gets an instant $75 million (before taxes), and Windsor gets total control of the tunnel for 75 years. IMO, Detroit gets the short end of the stick, here. Kwames leasing over a money maker for temporary budget stability. On this one proposal for the budget, I'm not sure I'm in agreement with him, here. Perhaps, though, this will buy him enough time, and give him enough wiggle room, until he can build support for more major government cuts for subsequent budget year. Still, the loss of the tunnel for 75 for such a money maker seems a bit long. Perhaps, Kilpatrick is banking on losing the tunnel, but trading it off for the new river crossing in Southwest Detroit.

I'd be very interested to see how much money this tunnel brings in Detroit for a typical year to make a better judgement. In essence, Windsor is paying us $1,000,000 a year for the use. I can only imagine the tunnel brings in more than that for Windsor to be so readily on board.

[hudkina]

How much money does the city get annually from the tunnel? I guess it's not much more than $1 million... If it is then it's not that good of an idea.

[detwaa84]

What I don't understand is why starting in 2020. If they will pay us the full money now, why wait 13 years to take it. It doesn't make sense to me. I think windsor should somehow alter the agreement where they would have full control immediatly. Just to be on their defense.

[jbr12]

I would bet there is some kind of deal in place currently on the tunnel. They prolly have to push it out to 2020 to allow any current contracts to expire

[nofunk]

IMO, Detroit gets the short end of the stick, here. Kwames leasing over a money maker for temporary budget stability.

[RustTown]

Yeah, that's the thing. A rosey as Kilpatrick is trying to be (and what mayor wouldn't want to exude confidence), I'm really feeling from many of the financial analysts that have been interviewed by the News and Freep within the past few years, that the city is in imminent danger, financially. Otherwise, I don't think Kilpatrick would be throwing everything at the wall, like this. Short of privatizing entire departments (or killing them of, altogether), he has to go to lengths to get the money in hopes that the next year will be better.

[RustTown]

Well, here's the other side of the story, or a sub-story explaining why this deal is even taking place:

City (Windsor) wants control of tunnel

Fearing that billionaire Ambassador Bridge owner Matty Moroun was poised to gain a stranglehold on Windsor's two border crossings, the City of Windsor has entered into a US$75-million agreement with Detroit to take full control of the Windsor-Detroit tunnel.

"That connection for 75 years has been vital to our residents, our region, tourism and our security," said Mayor Eddie Francis. "All of that was threatened by a proposal to turn it over to a private enterprise that would have destroyed that vital link."

http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/sto...c18&k=87110

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This confuses me even more. Matty is one of Kilpatrick's greatest political contributor. Is Kilparick really jonesin' for the budget money so bad that he's willing to block Matty from getting the tunnel, too? Or, does this simply mean Kilpatrick will officially be behind Matty's new bridge plan? lol I don't know, something just smells. The cynic in me thinks this has to be a quid pro quo.

[detwaa84]

I'm confused too, but on something else. One article says that Detroit will lease the tunnel to Windsor, and the new one says Windsor will have full control of it. Will they be selling it for $75 million or just leasing it. What does control mean?

[jbr12]

I'm guessing that Windsor will have full control of the tunnel for the 75 years that it is being leased

[RustTown]

Yeah, it's being leased to Windsor for 75 years meaning they'll have full control of it. Detroit will still have its joint ownership with Windsor of the tunnel, but Windsor will manage/operate the entire thing for 75 years starting in 2020. The current joint ownership is nothing different than any other regional facility. For instance, the City of Lansing owns Potter Park Zoo, but it's now (as of last night) operated and managed by Ingham County.