http://www.newjerseynewsroom.com/professional/harrisons-soccer-stadium-was-not-worth-the-cost for once just do the "right thing" please...
In all honesty the team is in right to question this because it is $3.6 million they can save if they think they are right. The courts will settle this and then everything will be set right so I don't think this is that big of a deal. On the other hand the author's ignorance in the article is amazing, stating we had our home opener on Sunday
Yeah, mistakes that basic make me question all the facts in the article. But I have one remaining question: If Red Bull pays property taxes on the land, does that mean they now own the land?
That's another interesting factor, because why would they have to continuing pay taxes on land they do not owe unless the land is leased to them and the taxes are included in the lease payments as executory costs the team must pay. Problem with the deal is that is appears to not be very transparent
but they've already lost once in court...paying the $3.6mill at this point might show some good faith to the community and gather some needed positive press...this franchise always seems year after year to shoot itself in the foot.
They are not paying taxes on the land they are paying taxes on the "improvements" to the land. It has been speculated that RedBull had entered into a "payment in lieu of taxes" scheme which many municipalities do to spur development. If this is so and now Harrison feels that it is a bad deal do you still think RedBull should just pay? It's like if you order a dinner at a restaurant that is $12 on the menu and when you get the bill it's $18 because the price of ingredients went up. Would you just pay it? I don't think so. I'm not sticking up for RedBull here but if Harrison made a bad deal when the arena was built and now want to get out of it, that is just plain wrong. In the end the courts will decide who is right and who is wrong.
I don't know the intricate details to the tax debacle (it seems no one does), but in my opinion (albeit under-informed) the larger problem here is that none of the redevelopment projects immediately followed the construction of the stadium. Harrison was already in the financial $hitter before the stadium was built and the fact that the economy collapsed and all the other pieces to the project fell apart is NOT Red Bull's fault. In the long run the Stadium will help Harrison's economy to grow and the redevelopment project is now moving forward with new residences and the PATH upgrade. In a few year's time the commercial aspects should follow (a couple already have). I'd encourage Harrison to embrace the team rather than alienate them. Who knows, if they play ball with Red Bull they may be rewarded down the line.
Also it was the same judge who overruled their prior decision in now saying they owed the 3.6 million. OP should just leave it to the courts, where it clearly belongs. Red Bull has a legit beef here.
My understanding is that Harrison is broke and they can't raise taxes to cover the expenses. The only way to survive is on the RedBulls backs. Like someone said, if they show some good faith it may help them be embraced by the community. Support the Red Bulls, they prevented your taxes to go up and our town to go broke, kind of deal
just a quick note about the tax issue: some leases require the tenant (redbull) to pay the rent AND the taxes. They're called "triple net" leases. The question here is whether this case involves a triple net lease. the judge seemed to think so, but if he/she didnt order them to pay, then maybe its not so clear. I havent read any official court documents on the case, but I thought it important to point out being made to pay rent & tax is not necessarily inconsistent.
This. Harrison's pretty small to have a stadium and a team this size, and game day does create quite the disruption in traffic, parking, etc., none of which are all that great to begin with. And $3.6M is a lot of money for a town our size. I think "embraced" might not be strong enough a word were that paid promptly with some kind of public big-check ceremony.
Red Bull won't do this. Why? Because they are not a member of this community. They are outsiders from a foreign land with no true local connection. An example of the global economy at its worst. (Has Mr. Mateschitz ever visited Red Bull Arena? I don't recall ever hearing about the team's owner actually having stepped foot in the place.) In Austria, the "New York Red Bulls" are nothing but a line-item on a budget. All of a sudden $3.6-million in unexpected expenses shows up next to that line-item and it becomes an accounting problem. Local owners would work with the community to make nice. Local owners would realize the public relations aspect to the tax bill. Local owners would realize that covering the $3.6-million in taxes might buy the goodwill of more than $3.6-million in local sponsorships. Absentee owners realize no such thing.
The longer that Ownership is there the more you're going to see them give back to the community. The area around the Arena (even though still not fully developed) already looks way better than it did before and that alone is going to attract future investors/developers. Additionally as the first piece to the redevelopment project the Arena is already pumping money into Harrison's economy on game days (people pay for parking, food, drink, etc.). I would never ever EVER have gone to Harrison in my life if the Arena wasn't there. Now I'm spending money there. ADDITIONALLY I must say that I thought the Town really shot themselves in the foot last year by implementing those new parking rules. They scared some fans away from parking in Harrison and spending their money there. Instead they went to Newark and invested in their economy. I admit I don't know the details to whatever deal was struck between the Town and Red Bull, but it seems to me that Red Bull strongly feel that they are correct in their assessment of said deal. What I'm trying to say is this: If Red Bull feel like they are being screwed by the Town why on earth would they want to give them even $20 in "good faith money".
I admit I didn't read through this thread so I apologize if it has been answered, but if this issue isn't resolved, could it possibly end up with Red Bull selling the team?
This is not a Madoff Ponzi Scheme, it's a bunch of politicians that screwed up their towns funds and going public demanding RBNY give them taxes that were originally not part of the land deal to build the stadium. If the town of Harrison would've gone to Red Bull in Private and asked them the right way to help out their town, I'm sure they would've helped out. But instead of doing it the right way, Harrison's politicians decided to go public and try to humiliate them. Their own fault.
Why doesn't Harrison just get a group of young girls to walk around with buckets for cash donations? That's what other charity cases do...
http://www.theobserver.com/2016/03/settlement-team-stays-pays-pilot/ The Red Bull Arena property will be tax-exempt but Harrison will collect an annual PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) fee and the soccer team will stay in town for at least the next two decades. Those are some of the key ingredients of a proposed settlement of the longstanding tax appeal filed by the Red Bulls, involving the team owners, the Town of Harrison, the Harrison Redevelopment Agency and the Hudson County Improvement Authority. If all the parties sign on to the deal and if the state Supreme Court agrees, it will end the Red Bull ownership’s six-year court fight for tax-exempt status as a “public entertainment” enterprise.
most importantly, “Red Bull waives all rights to the approximately $18 million in real property taxes paid to date” [since 2006] for the land and stadium. http://www.theobserver.com/2016/07/town-scores-red-bull-revenues/ 20 negotiation sessions and countless phone calls and text messages that stretched over some 17 months, there is an agreement which, it appears, everyone can live with. Essentially, according to Fife and Town Attorney Paul Zarbetski, the key ingredients remain the same as those struck in March: Red Bull will transfer to the HCIA ownership of the stadium and the 12.34 acres of land on which the stadium sits. (In 2006, the HCIA sold $40 million in bonds for the acquisition, clearing and remediation of the stadium site within the town-designated waterfront redevelopment area.) Red Bull will pay an annual rental of $1.3 million to the HCIA, with the rental to be “escalated annually” based on a “12-month average of the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers during the preceding year.” Red Bull will continue to make the annual lease payments through 2038 and those payments “may be extended at Red Bull’s option for four additional 5-year terms” through 2058. Ownership will revert to the town “at the end of Red Bull’s lease term.”
A taxing situation no more... http://www.bigapplesoccer.com/teams/redbulls2.php?article_id=46675 Red Bulls, Harrison settle tax disagreement HARRISON, N.J. -- The Red Bulls and Town of Harrison settled on a tax agreement on Red Bull Arena, the Major League Soccer team and Harrison officials announced Friday.