COUNTY ECONOMIC BENEFITS FROM PROJECT FRONTIER. EDC officials have touted the “benefits” of Project Frontier. The developer tossed around large numbers of direct and indirect economic stimulates to the State and regional public sector. How much ongoing revenue should El Dorado County anticipate receiving? When asked for documentation on the specific quantitative benefits, EDC Auditor and Controller Joe Harn appropriately received permission to release the attached Project Frontier Economic Impact Analysis (dated March 30, 2023) written by Economic & Planning Systems (EPS) for the project applicant Dermody Properties
The ongoing direct economic “benefits” to El Dorado County revenue appear surprisingly minimal versus potential costs. The analysis suggests that the County can anticipate as little as $31,500 in annual sales tax revenue, a portion of the property taxes and several hundred thousand for vehicle licensing set-asides. These “benefits” to EDC need to be compared to direct expenses and intangible costs to humans, local business, and environment. That benefit to cost balance sheet is still due the citizens.
The report does an excellent job of alleging the broad-based indirect economic benefit and the anticipated range of ongoing revenues to the State and regional “public sector.” On page 22, Economic & Planning Services (EPS) touches on the ongoing benefits specific to EDC. The $1,9 million property tax projection will be divided between special districts, with the County retaining only a percentage. The PTIL VLF revenues are $362,000. EPS uses two scenarios for taxes sales revenues: the E-Commerce method (basically retail sales) gives us an ongoing range of $481,500 to $2.3 million, and the Alternate method (wholesale tax) estimates revenues of $31,500.
Learn more at the April 19 EDH APAC meeting. The EPS Economic Impact Analysis is attached for your review.
Thank you, Joe Harn, for disclosing the applicant’s economic analysis. Also, thanks to Supervisor George Turnboo for insisting on releasing the EDC FAQ.