Auto Dealership Deal

* The John Steinman story of March 28, “Ford Buys 12-acre Tract for Burbank Auto Dealership,” doesn’t quite tell the whole story.

The actual value of the gift to Ford Motors and [Bert] Boeckmann is $3 million cash, $2.5 million worth of city land, $9 million from sales tax revenue and $4.5 million infrastructure work (roads etc.). This equals $19 million.

Mayor [Bob] Kramer and the council’s poor math skills are further displayed when they represent that 300 new jobs will be created and $55 million in sales tax will be earned by the city.

During the hearings on this project, the number of new jobs was stated at 150, and the projected gross sales tax revenue, by Keyser Marston, the city’s consultants, was $52 million over 25 years. In order to force this $52-million projection, a 6% to 8% compounded growth factor had to be used. Not very likely!

Kramer must be a believer of the late Sen. [Everett M.] Dirksen homily, “A billion here, a billion there, soon you’ll be talking about real money.”

STAN HYMAN

Burbank