Thursday, December 13, 2018

$375 K an acre? Yet another issue crops up from the Fox-con

I saw this article pass along social media, and I couldn’t help but notice.
One of the largest property owners in Racine County has sold one of its most recognizable parcels of land to the Village of Mount Pleasant.

Borzynski Brothers Properties sold 9.6 acres of land along Highway KR to the village for slightly more than $3.6 million, a sum that includes relocation benefits. The Village Board unanimously approved the purchase on a 6-0 vote on Monday. Trustee Anna Marie Clausen was absent from the meeting.

The land is part of the Foxconn Technology Group development site in the village. The land includes some silos filled with corn along with other farm equipment and structures.
That’s a cool $375,000 an acre. Even more interesting is that the property had a massive silo fire less than a month ago that required the assistance of a dozen local fire departments, so you’d think the land would be somewhat devalued as a result.

As you’d imagine, Ricardo Torres’ story in the Racine Journal-Times says that’s a lot more than your typical land prices.
Using the Mount Pleasant’s metric of $50,000 per acre, that would only account for about $500,000 for the Borzynski land. Village Trustee Gary Feest pointed out the huge amount of relocation costs and asked for some further clarification.

“Nine acres at $50,000 per acre, subtracted by $3.6 million, there’s a lot of money in relocation costs,” Feest said.
Yeah, like $3.15 million dollars! The Foxconn project manager for the Village of Mount Pleasant indicated to Village Board members that crops and machinery have to be moved. But $3.15 million in compensation and the owners keep their land-related assets? REALLY?

Is this worth $3.6 million in the real world?

So how is Mount Pleasant paying for this, as a relatively small community of 26,500 people? By using part of the $764 million TIF district for the Foxconn project, with the plan being that the money is eventually paid back through the added value of property and fees from Foxconn and others once the buildings get constructed.

And sure, Foxconn put up $60 million to help Mount Pleasant and Racine County buy properties and compensate current land owners. But it clearly wasn’t enough, because Racine County had to borrow even more money this May for this boondoggle.
The county plans to borrow $68 million to help finance the land purchases in Area I and II related to the Foxconn Technology Group project in Mount Pleasant. In December, the county borrowed $79.2 million to help buy the land in Area I….

They’re acquiring land at a much faster pace than we originally anticipated,” [FPM Financial Director Dave] Anderson said. “We’re running out (of money), we need the money.”

Anderson said much of the 1,105 acres that have been acquired in Area II has been paid for with $60 million that Foxconn has contributed to the process.
So while Foxconn is being constructed, the current taxpaying residents of Mount Pleasant are paying for what seems to be heavily inflated costs of buying properties, paying for the infrastructure that has to be built out to Foxconn, and the debt costs from the $764 million TIF.

In return, some Mount Pleasant residents have been driven out of their homes via eminent domain, while those who remain have to pay higher taxes and deal with the headaches that result from added construction and traffic in their communities.


And now we know the Foxconn plant won’t make the same products nor hire as many people as what was promised when that $764 million TIF district was created, which means that it’s less likely that Mount Pleasant will ever make their money back on this deal, nor will local people get the opportunities that they were told were going to be available.

It sure seems like the only groups being helped are Foxconn (via taxpayer handouts), well-connected real estate people, and GOP-puppet politicians that get campaign kickbacks from this deal (remember, Foxconn is in Assembly Speaker Robbin’ Vos’s district). Meanwhile, everyone else in the state will be paying a whole lot more for a Fox-con that’s clearly going to be a whole lot less than what they said it was going to be.

Can someone explain to me why recall petitions aren’t flying all over southern Racine County against the officials who have sold out the rest of us?

5 comments:

  1. The $60 million from Foxconn is only a loan. Mt. Pleasant has to pay them back -- check out the contract.

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    1. Yikes. I thought Foxconn fronted Mt. Pleasant the money, and then that money is swished back through a $75 mil special assessment if Foxconn is ever built and opened.

      Your work on the Foxconn has been great, Lawrence. If you have a link to that contract that shows the $60 mil as loan, feel free to lead me to it.

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  2. Didn't Robin Vos just get reelected ?.....and WHY ? Neither Scott Walker, Robin Vos nor Scott Fitsgerald are working for the people of Wisconsin !

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    1. Fitz just got re-elected too. Gerrymandering, big money advantages and the RW BubbleWorld for many exurban and rural dopes (aka many of Vos' and Fitz's gerrymandered constituents) are all very real things.

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  3. Can't help thinking the members of MT Pleasant's board had their lives threatened. The art of the trump con. foxconn started with Don the Con. But not my village president dave degroot, did go for training at "American majority" (after gerrymandering). Even with the ship sinking MOST prefer to cling to their utopian dream than to admit they were STUPID! Not one of the Far Right village Trusties, with the exception of Gary Feest Stepped outside their bubble and checked on foxconn. One trustee ram bhatia sits on the board at the local Tech college Gateway. Gateway stands to make Millions on training, and certificate programs. ram also is a business man who in the past as vice president of a UAW union automotive parts foundry in Sturtevant WI. orchestrated closing down the plant sending the 350 living wage jobs to Canada.

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