Long Beach to Gain More From New Disney Park : Benefits: Anaheim would reap $38 million a year in net tax revenue and realize 17,500 jobs, a report ordered by Walt Disney Co. shows. But most estimates are higher for a seaside, aquatic-themed attraction.
The city has less to gain from a $3-billion investment by the Walt Disney Co. in a second California theme park than its rival, Long Beach, according to a report released by the entertainment giant Tuesday.
And the millions of dollars in taxpayer-financed public improvements sought by Disney as a condition of building a new Orange County resort have prompted Anaheim Mayor Fred Hunter and other City Council members to say they will consider an admissions tax at Disneyland, Anaheim Stadium, movie theaters and other entertainment venues.
“I want the (Disney) project, but the bottom line is who’s going to pay for it,” the mayor said.
Hunter, taking an increasingly tough public position on the project, made his comments after Disney issued a 27-page report on economic benefits that said Anaheim would reap $38 million a year in net tax revenue and realize 17,500 jobs.
The project could also provide local merchants with about $1 billion in extra business by completion, the report said.
The projections for Anaheim, however, call for about $9 million less in annual tax revenue than in Long Beach, 7,000 fewer jobs and about $200 million less in economic spillover to surrounding businesses. The report was prepared for Disney by the Los Angeles-based real estate consulting firm of Kotin Regan & Mouchly Inc.
Last month, Disney unveiled its Disneyland Resort plan, which includes a world’s fair-style theme park, Westcot, to be built in Disneyland’s present 100-acre parking lot, plus three huge new hotels.
The company last year released its proposal for an aquatic theme park and five new hotels circling the site of the Disney-operated Queen Mary and Spruce Goose attraction in Long Beach.
Disney’s decision on which of the two projects will be built is expected by year’s end.
Allen Epstein, vice president for the Disney Development Co., said Long Beach would gain more economically from the project than Anaheim because length of stay, consumer behavior and other factors would be different in that city. He declined to elaborate.
He also said Disneyland attendance would dip slightly when either the adjoining Westcot theme park or Long Beach’s Port Disney is opened. He said that attendance dip would dampen the economic benefits for Anaheim but not for Long Beach.
Kerry Hunnewell, another Disney vice president, said Long Beach would see more economic benefits as new hotels and businesses crop up to support renewed tourism. Anaheim, by contrast, already has a well-developed tourist economy.
Both Anaheim and Long Beach have hired consultants to analyze the financial impacts of the proposals. Disney has said “community support” will be a major factor in determining where its new complex is built.
One Long Beach official recently estimated in a confidential memorandum that Disney was asking for use of public land and for transportation and utility improvements valued at about $880 million. In Anaheim, officials have said the city’s costs could reach $500 million to build parking garages for more than 30,000 cars.
Faced with such a staggering public investment, Hunter and other city officials said Tuesday that they are willing to take a new look at an admissions tax.
Disney, L.A. Rams and California Angels executives are battling a proposal being considered by the Legislature for a statewide admissions tax to raise $200 million in state revenue. Anaheim has rejected past calls for an admissions tax.
Hunter said an admissions tax--charging a percentage of admission fees at the city’s gated attractions--might be the best way to pay for the road, parking and other improvements that Disney would need.
“An admissions tax will likely be on the table” when city negotiators meet with Disney’s bargainers, Councilman Tom Daly said.
Councilman Irv Pickler said he too would consider the tax. “As they sit down with us, maybe we can figure out a way to make it work,” he said.
Hunnewell said Disney had not previously considered an admissions tax.
But the idea is strongly advanced by Anaheim Home, a homeowners group whose members live near Disneyland.
Curtis Stricker, group president, said the tax would support city projects that would benefit Disney while the company’s expansion is under construction and new revenues, promised by Disney, are not yet available to the city.
“We think it is an excellent tax for the citizens of Anaheim,” Stricker said. “Most of the taxes would be paid by non-residents of Anaheim who would be using our streets to come to the park. This has always been a platform of our organization. This would be a very, very necessary source of revenue.”
With the city facing a $10-million budget deficit in the 1992 fiscal year, municipal officials and residents are worried that Anaheim may not be able to absorb the initial public costs.
Under Disney’s plan, the city would not receive more revenue until the end of first phase of construction in 1998. Yet one of the initial elements of the building plan would be two parking garages and several ramps from the Santa Ana Freeway--all to be financed with public money, under the proposal.
“The city is going to get zero revenues until this thing is built,” Stricker said. “It seems to me that it (an admissions tax) should be done first. It would provide some down-payment money.”
Variations on a Theme Park
The Walt Disney Co. says a new theme park could add $1.2 billion to $1.7 billion yearly to the economies of Anaheim and Long Beach.
(Figures in constant 1990 dollars
Value of direct and indirect economic activity Long Beach City $1.7 billion Southland $3 billion Construction jobs (person years)* City 27,000 Southland 48,000 Permanent jobs City 24,664 Southland 37,000 Annual revenues to city when finished: $55 million Net annual revenue (revenues less city costs): $47 million Annual revenue to county**: $15 million Value of direct and indirect economic activity Anaheim City $1.2 billion Southland $2.3 billion Construction jobs (person years)* City 20,400 Southland 41,200 Permanent jobs City 17,640 Southland 28,000 Annual revenues to city when finished: $43 million Net annual revenue (revenues less city costs): $38 million Annual revenue to county**: $9 million * First phase of construction only.
**The Long Beach park’s revenues would go to Los Angeles County, Anaheim’s to Orange.
