If you've ever tried to mouth the words "how much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood" and gotten tripped up on the consonants (or the image), then you're in good company. Because the question "How much property tax would a professional soccer stadium generate if a professional soccer stadium could generate property tax?" isn't much simpler to sort through.
There are all kinds of variables at play when it comes to determining land and real estate values and how they relate to tax rates, which can change from year to year and location to location, as well as the type of market value assessing method.
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'Murica! Property taxes!
But when it comes to the proposed location of a Major League Soccer stadium in St. Paul, the Scoop needs answers, darn it. So here's an educated guess as to what an 18,000-20,000 seat Minnesota United stadium might pay to St. Paul, Ramsey County, and school district coffers each year if such stadiums were actually taxed (and believe you me, they never actually are): $5.48 million.
Follow our math, if you please, even though said math exists only in a hypothetical parallel universe where professional sports stadiums pay property tax. First, keep in mind that the 10 acres in question off Snelling and University avenues -- the vacant Metro Transit "bus barn" -- hasn't had any property on it since the old bus storage facility was torn down in 2002. And as public land, it currently generates no taxes.
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If they build a professional soccer stadium in St. Paul's Midway, will the city find money to complete Ayd Mill Road?
It's tax-free property, and the team is itching to keep it that way. Noting that no professional stadiums in Minnesota ever pay property taxes, the city and county have already signaled their willingness to play along, with a few conditions.
So let's begin by looking at the estimated land value of Metro Transit's "bus barn" site at 400 Snelling Ave. (land parcel ID: 342923320003 -- no joke). One does that by plugging the land parcel I.D. into this GIS tool, here, on the Ramsey County website. (Prepare to download some software, perchance). On the interactive map, click on the land parcel and scroll down, and you'll see a land value of $8.6 million appear. That's just the land alone, mind you.
Once you've gotten that far, add a $120 million commercial structure to the site using the county's handy commercial tax calculator tool to see what it would pay in taxes this year. Make sure to throw in the $8.6 million in land value from above, for a grand total market value of $128.6 million. That's your starting point for calculating property taxes.
Wait a second. Did you adjust tax values from the default setting (Roseville) to St. Paul commercial district 625-C on the calculator spreadsheet? And did you adjust the corresponding values for local taxes (152.350 percent X $1.73 million) as well as payable market taxes (0.13495 percent X $128.6 million)?
If so, then voila! You're a nerd!
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Having the St. Paul City Council vote on a soccer stadium resolution in an election year is fascinating stuff. All 201 House and Senate members at the Minnesota Statehouse will be on the ballot in 2016. Now THAT'S a hoot...
But seriously, the number $5.48 million should appear. That's how much tax money a professional soccer stadium might generate at this particular location in St. Paul if a professional soccer stadium generated tax money. Care to double check our math? By all means...
A critic would say it's a near-useless figure anyway, seeing as there's no way Minnesota United plans to pay that sum annually, no other sports teams do, and the site in question currently generates no property tax money at all. Building a stadium wouldn't exactly be a loss in tax dollars relative to the status quo, outside of some sizable potential infrastructure costs. Heck, it could even boost land values (and property taxes) around it.
But imagine if $120 million in some other type of property materialized there -- big box stores like Home Depot, residences, parking ramps or the like? How much would they generate in property taxes if a soccer stadium weren't in the way? And how much could they generate if they were somehow attached to a stadium?
No way is the Scoop attempting that math tonight. Heck no, you can't make us do it... If all this talk of opportunity costs makes your head spin, just remember the poor woodchuck chucking his hypothetical wood, or his even more hapless cousin, the roasted guinea pig, otherwise known as cuy, a Peruvian delicacy. They probably weren't any good at math, either. Pero que delicioso!
The post How much property tax would a soccer stadium generate if a soccer stadium could generate property tax? appeared first on City Hall Scoop.