Mayor Kevin Foy is concerned that a lot of Carolina North's projected benefit comes in the form of indirect monies like sales tax. It's hard to project indirect benefits. Town Manager Roger Stancil doesn't want to include them as the town negotiates with UNC to make sure the new campus doesn't cost Chapel Hill taxpayers money.
We interviewed Foy for Sunday's Chapel Hill News. He says the consultants' reliance on indirect benefits "distorts" the fiscal impact study. But Foy also says he's not overly concerned right now because he thinks UNC is willing to make some kind of payments to keep the project revenue neutral. Here's an excerpt.
CHN: So does it concern you that this report shows [Carolina North is] going to have a net cost to the town?
FOY: No, ... because I think we can make some arrangement so that it does become cost neutral. I think the university is open to that. They have said all along they don’t want this to become a drain on the town’s resources.
I think where push come to shove is the old argument we’ve had in the past: [UNC’s saying] ‘Well, we create a lot of jobs,’ which is true. But as the [town] manager has said, ‘In order to pay people I need the cash.’ You can’t pay them in some phantom impact that Carolina North is going to have on the economy. It probably will have some overall impact on the economy of Orange County and North Carolina. But our manager is looking at ‘how do I get money to sign paychecks for the people who are going to provide the services?’
