New Parking Deck Will Never Pay for Itself

 

 

From a reader:

If completely full 5 days a week this "new" deck will yield a return to the taxpayers of Florence on the $12.65 MILLION DOLLAR investment of $283,920.00 per year. At 70% occupancy which is the standard rate for parking decks it will yield $198,744.00 per year. It will take 63 years for the citizens of Florence to recoup our tax money. Not a very wise investment given the current deck is declared unusable at 40 years old.

Is he correct? We agree with 90% of what he stated. The old parking deck is closer to 45 years old, and, yes, downtown parking will add to sales tax revenue. How much? Very little since most who use it will work downtown and not be shoppers.

We agree with 90% of this. The deck is around 45 years old. The extra parking will increase retail traffic, but how much? Most of the deck parking will be employees of downtown businesses.

But here's the biggie. Think concrete is stronger now than 50 years ago? It seems not since coal ash is not as readily available. Decreased coal ash means earlier and more cracks.

Oh, well. It's only money...our money...