Council OK's Dell Incentives

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Council OKs Dell incentives
By Steve Lackmeyer
The Oklahoman

Oklahoma City will pay $1,000 for each full-time employee hired by Dell and spend up to $11.75 million on a new campus for the computer company's sales and service center.
Incentives totaling $17.25 million were approved unanimously Tuesday without comment by the Oklahoma City Council.

Most of the proposed incentives were negotiated by council members in executives sessions the past few months. Dell officials last week announced they will build a 120,000-square-foot campus along the Oklahoma River south of downtown, with an opening by summer.

The Texas-based computer producer will hire up to 3,000 people. The job incentives will be paid from $5.5 million in Community Development Block Grant Funds the city gets from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

City Manager Jim Couch said the agreement will commit most of the grant fund for the next several years. Other pledges from the grant include financing for renovation of the Skirvin Hotel and construction of the American Indian Cultural Center.

"We've scraped the bottom to come up with all this," Couch said. "But you've got to strike while the iron is hot, and to pull off all three projects at this point is significant. We'll have a new hotel, a new cultural facility and new jobs. We think that's a nice little trifecta we're pulling off."

Couch said preparations for construction of the campus at an abandoned park at Interstate 44 and SW 15 began in July when Dell said it was looking at the river site as a possible choice.

The city council Tuesday pledged to spend up to $11.75 million preparing the site, including utility relocation, road improvements, drainage and fencing. The city will hold a mortgage to the land that is being donated to Dell, requiring the center to remain open for five years.

A tax increment financing district is proposed to help pay for the improvements. The city has two other such districts, in downtown and the health sciences district.

The districts, commonly called "TIFs," capture rising property taxes within the district under an agreement with the county, schools and libraries, and allows them to be reinvested into the area.

[Patrick]

I think this just goes to show you how important TIF districts are. That's why it was so important to pass SQ 707 yesterday. I'm surprised the vote was so close, but I guess it was jsut poorly worded, as I know a few posters on here voted no, and I couldn't stop them before they voted (as this site was down).

Anyways, sounds like Mayor Cornett, Jim Couch, and company put together a great package to lure them here. I'm glad to see that they'll make a presence on the Oklahoma River. Hopefully their presence will spur more development on the river.

And maybe even Dell's presence at I-44 and SW 15th will improve the Kerr Village area. Boy, it sure needs some help. Make sure to tell Dell though that they need to hire plenty of officers for their parking lot. And if they hear a gun shot across the street, it's just same old same old at Kerr Village!

Joking aside, this is great news. And our very own mranderson will be working for Dell starting in the next few weeks. He quit his other job to accept a job at Dell. I'm sure he'll have all kinds of great news to tell us.

[mranderson]

Yes. I will be a senior customer service associate, which I am lead to think is a supervisory position inwhich I will supervise a team of call screeners known as live voice response agents.

That is how I could leak the news on the date of announcement. The odd thing is the first commercial alarm was being dispatched to Loveless shoes as I was being interviewed for this job. I could see smoke all the way to Francis Tuttle which is the hiring center.

I start November 15. Plus. I will let you in on anything that is not a breech of confindentuality.

[floater]

Well, I guess that answers my question on the other post. Again, congrats mranderson.

I think SQ707 a couple of things going against it. One, as Patrick said, it was a poorly worded description of what is already a complex concept. Two, people just have an aversion to anything that has the word "tax" in it. I guess we can just enjoy a sigh of relief. Now our TIF districts can tackle bigger projects.

[mranderson]

Actually, most people are fine with the term "tax" if it serves a good purpose or is a good deverson.

Examples. The MAPS taxes. If every person (when someone says "people" do this or that, it is too general) felt the word "tax" was an evil word, not one of the good things that have happened lately would happen... And I would probably still be stuck in Texas.

No. Most people take a realistic approach to tax these days... At least in Oklahoma City.

even I was confused on the wording of 707, and I usually have among the clearest understanding of state questions.

[floater]

Mranderson, I wish I could believe you. Maybe I just need more proof. But with MAPS, it too, just barely passed (54%?) when first proposed. Maybe it just takes a simple and solid approach to explaining whatever the tax is for -- just like the Ballpark. If we can somehow better present a concrete example of the fruits of whatever tax, people will be fair-minded about such proposals. And I agree "people" is a broad term, but part of that was intentional.

[mranderson]

Look at the track record since the first MAPS. How many tax reforendums have failed? Answer. None.

If you are adding bond issues, bonds are not tax. They are an investment plan sold to investors which are redeemed later at a profit. Tax free muni's are what they are called.

The only reason these fail is this obsolete and unfair rule of super majority. With a simple majority, they pass.

Yes. There are still some places that are behind the times. Case in point, the town of Pink. A small town, population probably around 100. Their thinking is quite old fashioned. Large cities know the difference between an investment tax and a subsidation tax (for example).

The last time I remember a tax referendum failing in Oklahoma City was in the mid eighties when we tried to build a domed football stadium. Had it been a MAPS, it would pass.

[floater]

Hmmm. You make a good case. I haven't watched these levy proposals as well as I should, but if true, maybe we are fairer than I thought.

[mranderson]

It pays to be raised in a political family. If it is a race, I watch it and track it. Even out of state.

[Patrick]

People don't mind paying extra taxes if they feel their money is being well spent. MAPS was a huge success. That's the reason tax increase proposals since then have been easy to pass. But, when a tax increase is surrounded in scandal, it usually results in the defeat in tax increase proposals to follow. Take the 1993 OKC Public Schools Bond issue that air conditioned all of the schools.....they district realy mishandled the money...that's why several bond issues failed after that. It took the city jumping in with oversight measures in order to pass the recent OKC School Bond issue combined with MAPS for Kids.

I'm sure another MAPS would pass easily, because people have been happy with what they got for their money in the first MAPS.