Here we try to breakdown the SFA presentation to be less confusing. SFA presented a Pro-Forma for the “proposed” Rocky Mount Event Center at the committee of the whole and to the public. The report did not total many of the projections and some information was not even presented. For example, the only means to determine attendance was to base it off of the concessions revenue and expense report. SFA only presented information on the operation of the facility and no where did they mention the cost of building and maintaining the facility.
$32,000,000 | Facility Cost to create 5 full-time jobs and 100 part-time jobs |
$50,000,000+ | Facility Cost + Interest to create 5 full-time jobs and 100 part-time jobs |
$5,200,000 | 10 years of Sales Tax Revenue Generated – Edgecombe County, Nash County and Rocky Mount – Projection |
$520,000 | Only 1 year of Sales Tax Revenue Generated -1 year – Edgecombe County, Nash County and Rocky Mount – Projection |
$44,116,954+ | Cost to Taxpayers for the event center – projected |
9.4% to 14.7% | Property Tax Increase required to pay for event center – described by officials and consultants to pay for event center |
$43,168,400 | Revenue Total – 10 year Projection |
$42,485,354 | Expense Total – 10 Year Projection |
$683,046 | Profit (EBITDA) Total – 10 Year Projection |
$3,955,818 | Revenue – Parking 10 Year Projection |
$4,054,665 | Revenue – Play Climb, Adventure Area, Arcade and Court Rental – 10 Year Projection |
$11,316,288 | Revenue – Corporate Group and Entertainment Events – 10 Year Projection |
5 | number of full-time employees |
100 | number of part-time employees |
$1,150,495 | Average Direct Payroll/year |
$47 | Basketball Court Fee – Average Year 5 |
572 | Hourly Basketball Court Rentals/year – Year 5 |
10,574 | Number of People – Play Climb – Year 5 |
451 | Number of People – Ballocity and Softplay- Year 5 |
5,446 | Number of People – Adventure Area – Year 5 |
6,536 | Number of People – Arcade – Year 5 |
23,007 | Total Number of People – Play Climb, Ballocity, Softplay, Adventure Area and Arcade – Year 5 |
39,000 | Number of People – Corporate and Group Events |
$0.00 | Amount Allocated to Security |
697 | Parking Spaces |
4,500 | Seats |
6.5 | Number of seats per parking space – Not everyone drives a 7 seater |
174,186 | Sq ft – Building Size |
8 | Basketball Courts |
2,500 | sq ft – Kitchen |
6,000 | sq ft – Multi-purpose rooms |
4 | Number of Multi-purpose rooms at 1,500 sq ft each |
10,000 | sq ft – meeting/conference space |
72,960 | sq ft – of basketball courts that can be converted into meeting/conference space |
82,960 | sq ft – available space downstairs – meeting/conference space |
16,000 | sq ft – available space upstairs |
174,864 | Projected Average Attendance/year – Had to calculate from concession figure |
262,680 | Projected Attendance in Year 5 |
In summary:
This will cost Rocky Mount taxpayers $50+ million in debt and interest to build while only generating $683,046 of profit in ten (10) years.
What will the profit be if projections are off 10%? How about 25%? Not much room for error.
Does the property tax projection take into account the impact of recent and proposed state legislation?
Who benefits beyond hotels, gas stations and restaurants for the projected average yearly revenue of $2,642,559?
Will it benefit the single mother or that struggling family trying to make ends meet? Can they afford the “nominal” property tax increase?
How much of the projected 10 year $5.2 million sales tax revenue benefits Rocky Mount (translates into $52,000/year)?
Is it worth $50+ million to generate (provided the projections are accurate) such little benefit?
How will this impact our bond capability for future projects?
What are your thoughts?
You can view the presented documents by clicking on the following link (ttp://goo.gl/aoS6MG).
** Please note we encourage everyone to review all available information provided by the City of Rocky Mount. This is an interpretation therefore there could be information interpreted incorrectly.
MAR