Not all public funds…
The Gipson Play Plaza is made possible by the Raleigh Community’s support of the 2022 Parks Bond, donations to the Dix Park Conservancy and a generous $10 million lead gift from Pat and Tom Gipson.
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Well, I guess that the city needs to approve more rezonings to prop up the tax revenues so that we can have nice things in this city!
By in large, we often think nothing of how much $$$ is spent to widen a road or an Interstate, but we (meaning people in general) clutch their pearls when it comes to providing something that actually improves our quality of life, and that is especially true when it comes to those nice things NOT being in the suburbs.
As for this particular project, you can rest assured that this project didn’t spend 72M on playground equipment. I am sure that there was plenty spent to support general park infrastructure as the property transitions from its former use to its future use.
In the end, and if we want nice things, we are going to have to spend the money and find revenue streams for that money.
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$2 million from Truist too.
Interesting to note it said this phase would cost $35 million back then. You can basically assume anything in the public sector is going to 2-3X the projected cost these days by the time it’s complete.
Private sector isn’t immune to this either, but they can move faster.
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yup..
$2.5 Billy for “Complete 540”
Which..
Did NOT
Complete
540
lolz
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To put that in perspective..
We could have traded “Complete 540”
for 34 parks with the same budget as Gipson Play Plaza.
Or otherwise, all 300+ acres of Dix Park could have been fully built out to the grandeur of the master plan, and there would still have been budget left over to fund all the BRT lines in Raleigh, assuming $250M per BRT line.
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The remaining portion of 540 will be starting construction soon (1-2 years). Also, it is extremely important for folks on this forum to understand that highways are funded by NCDOT (Controlled by NC Congressional Goals) and not municipalities.
Maybe you already know this but it’s important to mention for those who don’t. I’m in no way, completely supportive of the 540 project by the way.
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Yes of course, I-540 is not a city of Raleigh amenity or liability. But it is a public works project, just like Gipson Play plaza. People can be upset their local tax dollars went to a park. They can be upset their state and federal (and gas) tax dollars went to a toll road.
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It’s a toll road. The users will be paying for it in fees each time they use it. The equivalent would be charging a fee to users of Dix Park each time they visit to pay off the loan to build it. Complete 540 includes the final phase that is currently under construction.
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Also note that Gipson Play Park is made extra special due to the generosity of the Gipsons. They have done so many things to enhance our city and this will probably be the crown jewel.
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So tax dollars didn’t go to pay for 540 and there’s a loan that tolls will pay off?
Or it was tax dollars and tolls?
As for Dix Park and Gipson Play Park specifically, there were some private dollars (unlike 540) and there is no “toll”. We already paid the toll (tax).
Unless I’m missing something.
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No tax dollars. Loans and bonds that have to be paid for only by the actual users of the toll road. My point is you cannot compare it to anything paid for by actual tax dollars like some were trying to do up above unless you charge fees to the users of the park in order to pay for the park without using tax dollars.
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No, the bonds issued to build the TriEx are backed by a combination of toll revenue and legislative appropriations (called gap funding, aka tax money). TriEx receives $25m/year in gap funding. Monroe Expressway receives $24m, so this year’s total gap funding appropriation to NCTA totals $49m.
2024 toll revenue on TriEx was $72.9m, and operations expenses were $25.7m. Net $47.2m
So there’s a loan, which a combination of tax money and toll revenue is used to pay off. Based on the above numbers, last year, for the TriEx, the bonds were financed approximately 2/3 by tolls, and 1/3 by tax money.
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It has already started. My inlaws live off of White Oak Rd in Garner and they have already torn down some buildings and they are cutting down the woods.
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So, is there an end to the tolls at some point? I remember when cars had to pay a toll to go through Petersburg and Richmond and then one day the tolls ended.
Is there some sort of formula that is intended to pay off the construction costs and then turn it over to the Interstate system, or is it going to be forever a toll road? Not that I will ever use it as a downtowner, I’m just curious.
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That’s what the law requires - tolls removed once bonds are paid off. Looked it up, that’s expected to be around 2040. That is if they don’t need to renew the tolls to go back and widen or rebuild the highway by then.
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Thanks. I suppose that the tolls will end in sequence based on when each section was completed?
"Federal funding, like that from the TIFIA program, was used to help finance the project. For example, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) provided a loan to NCTA for the Complete 540 project. " It is a loan. Has to be paid back. Net zero tax funding.
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Bringing us back to Dix. Some new art going in, hope it’s permanent. I like being surprised by these details as the master plan unfolds.
And this one has been up for a while. I really like it but don’t think it has been posted here yet:
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You missed what I said. Annual appropriations from NC Legislature (derived from NC tax revenue) are going to help pay back part of the money borrowed to build the project.
Net zero FEDERAL tax money. NC taxpayers are filling in the gap. Look it up; 25 million annually for 39 years. Total of nearly $1b.
Toll revenue will not be used to offset those appropriations.
This was all over the news in 2008 and was somewhat controversial at the time. It was known at the time that toll revenue would be insufficient to pay back the borrowed money, so the legislature had to approve appropriations to cover that gap.
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Yes. I was talking about the Complete NC 540 phases not the Western portion. I think the state only provided 81 milllion for the southeastern portion. Not sure if that is is being paid back or designated for upgrades to the state roads around the NC540.