Article “Harrisburg parking deal would preserve local control through CREDC and increase city revenue, sources say” includes the following:
“Control of Harrisburg’s parking garages will remain local, and annual revenues into the city’s coffers will increase millions over current figures under the terms of the long-term lease of parking assets being negotiated by the city’s state-appointed receiver, according to multiple sources close to the deal who spoke on condition of anonymity because they aren’t authorized to speak on the record…
“Under terms of the deal, which is still being hammered out, the city’s parking assets would be leased to the Pennsylvania Economic Development Financing Authority, also known by its acronym PEDFA, which is a component of the state’s Department of Community and Economic Development. PEDFA, in turn, would partner with the Capital Region Economic Development Corporation, known locally as CREDC, as a local non-profit entity to oversee management and maintenance of the assets. CREDC would then subcontract management and maintenance to the private firms interested in the deal: Chicago-based Standard Parking, which would serve as parking operator, and Boston-based AEW Capital Management, which would serve as property manager…
“The tax-free financing and lower interest rates from a leasing deal to the PEDFA/CREDC partnership would mean there’s more money available up-front to address the city’s financial woes.”…
WATCHDOG: The only apparent economic benefit would be the lowering of interest rates through converting conventional debt to tax exempt bonds. (Of course, this is at the cost of other tax payers since they must pay higher taxes to make up for Harrisburg’s exemption.)
Unless there is more than is reported, the rest appears to be hogwash. Money isn’t made by passing assets from one hand to another. Nor is debt extinguished.
Rather, what appears to be created is still another feeding trough for bankers, lawyers, consultants, and all involved in the multiple transactions. So on the surface of the report, this is simply more of the type of transcations that got Harrisburg broke in the first place.
We believe Harrisburg (and the Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority) would be better served if the city were allowed to enter into the protection of the Bankruptcy Court. Unlike the Corbett administration bent on finding ways to protect creditors at the expense of city, state and national tax payers, the Court’s goal is to see that pain is shared equitably.
