The Lancaster Newspapers, Inc. is still playing cute with the coverage of the Convention Center crisis.
It isn’t so much what the article “County Commissioner Lehman: Convention center plan ‘not acceptable’” says that is wrong. And it does imply important information, if one is both cynical and a near expert on the matter.
But it fails to directly address the essential issue that apparently concerns Commissioner Craig Lehman and about which NewsLanc has sought to obtain information:
Is the county guarantee just for the new seven year term of the refinancing or is it until 2047 when the bonds are scheduled to be paid off?
If the Commissioners cannot use an extension of the guarantee as leverage over the terms and interests to be set by the bond owner Wells-Fargo after seven years, then Lancaster County taxpayers will be at the mercy of the bank. And banks are only concerned about mercy for their stockholders!
Here are the key paragraphs from the article:
“As Lehman understands it, Martin’s proposal would put county taxpayers on the hook for more than tripling the county’s guarantee of the convention center’s debt for the life of the loans in exchange for five years of financing.
“That, Lehman said, ‘is not acceptable from my perspective.’
“The bonds on the convention center expire in 2047.”
Lehman refers to “five years” and others have said the term is seven years. It doesn’t matter. The point that Lehman apparently is making is that the expanded guarantee should not be longer than the renewal term…and, if so, he is absolutely correct.
Here is a quote from the benighted mayor of Lancaster:
“Learning of Lehman’s opposition, Mayor Rick Gray said, ‘Anybody that supports the city and supports the tourism industry, I don’t see how they could be against it at this point.’ ”
Apparently Gray doesn’t care what happens to the Convention Center and to the City taxpayers after the renewal term expires, be it five years or seven.
The Convention Center Authority meets this evening (Friday) at 5:30 PM at the City Chamber room at the Southern Market. We will seek clarification concerning the propose length of the proposed guarantee. We did not succeed in obtaining the information from Commissioner Martin.
While all valid questions, I question Lehman’s true motivation in pushing things back to the only other potential resolution, one which PSP prefers, and that would be an increase in the hotel tax. I guess you could also throw an increase in the property tax into the mix as well but clearly that will come AFTER the hotel tax is raised to its statutory limitations.