Books Versus Baseballs

Despite a dramatic shortfall of over $55 million in general fund revenues over the past two years, the City of Mesa proposes to go further into debt by erecting a new Chicago Cubs spring training facility. Here’s the rub – from an economic point of view there is no justification for such an investment. Based on data from the city’s own economic analysis study, the Mesa sales tax revenue generated by the Cubs on an annual basis is much less than even the amount necessary to pay back the city’s portion of the debt necessary to build this project. Maybe the libraries can get by with even fewer books and less hours; maybe city offices can cut back to two days a week; or maybe its time to get real. The city says we need to look at the big picture. In terms of dollars and cents, this is it not a pretty picture.