Today at 2pm, city of Concord leaders and represenatives from SMI will announce the incentives package that they gave to Bruton Smith and his track to stay. As a NASCAR fan, I'm pleased that the track will remain close, however I wouldn't be too happy if I were a Concord or Cabarrus County property owner.
A source close to the incentive talks said the incentive package would be worth about $80 million and that it would be paid in two portions - $60 million now and $20 million in 36 months.
The $60 million would be shared between the city and the county, said County Chairman Bob Carruth, and would go toward road improvements around the speedway. The $20 million will come from the state.
While losing the speedway would have been devistating to the local economy, the city of concord and Cabarrus county would have owed NOTHING if they had not ordered Smith to stop work on his drag strip facility.
The background to this story is this. Bruton Smith had obtained permits to add a drag strip to his raceway facility, north east of Charlotte. Some homeowners complained to the Mayor about the potential noise of the drag strip facility. So the City Council met and revoked the permits on the drag strip. The raceway facility has been in its currentl location for almost 50 years and homes were built 10 years ago (so the homeowners moved to the racetrack). Feeling slighted, Bruton Smith decided to look elsewhere to relocate his entire facility.
Prior to living here in the Charlotte area, I lived in Maryland and for a time in Prince Georges County during the time when the county leaders vied for what is now Fedex Field. When the Redskins were looking to move, they could either go to Northern Virginia or to Maryland. Prince Georges county leaders essentially built that incredible stadium, provided land, and incentives that the other areas could not match. Property taxes skyrocketed to pay for the stadium and have remained high even after construction. Now just ten years later, there's talk of moving the team back into DC.
This money could have been spent in better places and the city of concord leaders should be held to account for this. $30 million will come from the city, which could have been used to attract new jobs, improve schools, etc.
THANK YOU SIR! CAN I HAVE ANOTHER? The new chant of the Concord city council!
If I were Mr. Smith and have more money and I know what to do with, I would reinvest the incentives back in the community and improve LMS with my own money. LMS needs improvements. Its a boring race track but its pathetic that its the tax payers are the ones who will foot the bill.
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