Way to screw things up Brownback

[Patriot]

For those who have bought into the million dollar Elk County windfall, that's probably wrong.  Let's clear it up....

The 'nameplate' capacity of Phase 1 at the Caney River Project is 150 megawatts.  The agreement the county signed was for a 1st year payment of $4500 per megawatt.  That would be $675,000 not 1 million. 32% less than some folks have been led to believe.  Commissioner Liebau continued to propagate the million dollar myth in his quote to the Eagle in just the last day or two.  Math must not be a strong suit.

If Phase 2 were completed and brought online in the year after Phase 1, the maximum nameplate capacity would be 200 megawatts.  The second year payment is something like $4590 per megawatt (2% increase over year 1) or $918,000.  If Phase 2 is not online, the payment in year two would be $688,500.

Based on the wind project developer's public statements, the total benefit to 'Elk County' via payments in lieu of taxes and landowner leases will be on the order of $3,000,000 total.  So the county gets $675,000 and the 15 or so landowners get about $2,325,000.  One of the largest 'landowners' is a family partnership with several family corporations & trusts as partners.

Now, can we stop the 1 million dollar rumor... it's misleading.

[Patriot]

I realize the wind farm going up west of Howard is bigger than the one by Beaumont, but the one by Beaumont only hired 6 people.  

I think the Beaumont farm is 150 megawatts, or about the same size as Phase 1 of the Caney River project.  I know of only 2 or 3 local folk who have been hired.  It's likely management/supervisory personnel won't be local.  Not what one would call a major employer.

[pepelect]

Based on the wind project developer's public statements, the total benefit to 'Elk County' via payments in lieu of taxes and landowner leases will be on the order of $3,000,000 total.  So the county gets $675,000 and the 15 or so landowners get about $2,325,000.  One of the largest 'landowners' is a family partnership with several family corporations & trusts as partners.

Now, can we stop the 1 million dollar rumor... it's misleading.  So it should say $3,000,000.

. Local infusion of 2.325 million dollars is a lot more then  we had in the county last year.


I am sure based on your religious research on older well established landowners they tend to be pretty fly by night group.  They don't ever give back to the community, they will pull up stakes and move on to greener pastures where there are less industry, and they never spend any money on Capitol improvements.  No loans will be paid on, no fence will be purchased, and no land improvements will be done with the 2million.  No one will get hired and all with jobs will be let go after the dispersal auctions.

 It will all go directly to the casino.

  Ross the newspaper won't need your subscription next year because there will be a huge delinquent tax list published for the next 20 years with pages and pages of unpaid property taxes notices.  Rudy will retire on the windfall.

In the real world I can see more economic activity now then I ever have in the area.  Every building or garage that can be used for housing is full.  You can't rent anything.  You can not park on the main drag because every parking space is full.  


You can be as pessimistic as you want to be.  The glass is half full.

[greatguns]

I don't get any money from the current wind farm and I don't have a problem with those that do.  I also don't receive any money from the oil wells underneath the turbines and sinces I don't own the land, I guess I shouldn't.  Nor do I get any money from the cattle the landowner has.  It is their land and I think it should be their business what goes on it.

[pepelect]

I think the Beaumont farm is 150 megawatts, or about the same size as Phase 1 of the Caney River project.  I know of only 2 or 3 local folk who have been hired.  It's likely management/supervisory personnel won't be local.  Not what one would call a major employer.

This is not going to be very significant.  That is only $16,400,725 for the insignificant little poverty flats called Elk county over the next twenty years.  At a minimum $46,500,000 for the lease holders.  Instead of that piddly sum  I can see it now a fifty million dollar trail ride outfit.  Tours of the old ghost towns of Winfield and Burden.   Grave sites along the trail with little pinwheels shaped like wind turbines. Pasture golf on Pasafinos.   Cow chip throwing contests.  Gun fights.

[Sarah]

For those who have bought into the million dollar Elk County windfall, that's probably wrong.  Let's clear it up....

The 'nameplate' capacity of Phase 1 at the Caney River Project is 150 megawatts.  The agreement the county signed was for a 1st year payment of $4500 per megawatt.  That would be $675,000 not 1 million. 32% less than some folks have been led to believe.  Commissioner Liebau continued to propagate the million dollar myth in his quote to the Eagle in just the last day or two.  Math must not be a strong suit.

If Phase 2 were completed and brought online in the year after Phase 1, the maximum nameplate capacity would be 200 megawatts.  The second year payment is something like $4590 per megawatt (2% increase over year 1) or $918,000.  If Phase 2 is not online, the payment in year two would be $688,500.

Based on the wind project developer's public statements, the total benefit to 'Elk County' via payments in lieu of taxes and landowner leases will be on the order of $3,000,000 total.  So the county gets $675,000 and the 15 or so landowners get about $2,325,000.  One of the largest 'landowners' is a family partnership with several family corporations & trusts as partners.

Now, can we stop the 1 million dollar rumor... it's misleading.

Is that $3,000,000 total over the next 20 years?  or is that $3 mil the total that could accumulate at any one time?  $3,000,000 total for something that's going to be standing there for years and years and years doesn't seem like much and 3 jobs sure isn't much either.  I don't know.  If people want to draw in money to the county, open up A LOT of jobs and bring in a lot of tax dollars, then bring in a super Wal-Mart! 

Thanks for posting that anyway.  I wondered what "close to a million dollars" meant in the article.

[srkruzich]

close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. Wanna bet it will be nowhere near a million by the time its all counted and settled.

[Patriot]

Local infusion of 2.325 million dollars is a lot more then  we had in the county last year.

I am sure based on your religious research on older well established landowners they tend to be pretty fly by night group.  They don't ever give back to the community, they will pull up stakes and move on to greener pastures where there are less industry, and they never spend any money on Capitol improvements.  No loans will be paid on, no fence will be purchased, and no land improvements will be done with the 2million.  No one will get hired and all with jobs will be let go after the dispersal auctions.

It will all go directly to the casino.

Dayum partner.  Didn't hit a nerve, did we?  Casino?  Your share maybe, but not the bulk of it.  

Stop with the self righteous BS.  Since you've obviously done the projections... tell us how much of that 2.325 mill will be going directly to long term new employment?  Starting a new factory here?  How much to P & J's?  About what percentage to to the restaurants in Longton?   How much to directly promote tourism here and expose Elk to the outside world?  How much will be directly donated (given without expectation of a return) to help local governments and businesses make much needed infrastructure improvements?  How much to directly fund youth activities in lieu of taxpayer funds? How much to outside suppliers of fencing material?  How much to investment funds on wall street?  How much to buy out other locals at pennies on the dollar when increased property taxes or reduced property values finally kill their operations?  In God we trust...all others pay cash.  Show me the fruit and I'll tell you how good the tree is.  Time will tell.

Giving back to the community isn't putting up a new gate or fence at your place or negotiating a new cost share grant that the taxpayers are hooked for 40% of or paying off debts you incurred or carving out a private fishing lake in the back yard or putting in new cattle paddocks on the back 40.  The only real give back I've seen recently is the park and walkway behind the care home in Howard... That was donated, wasn't it?  Those older well established landowners your talking about have given what, exactly?  Some of us were born at night, just not last night.

Oh, and don't edit my quotes.  Let your words be your own.

Now can we get back to the myth that the PILOT amount is 1 mill in the first year?

In the real world I can see more economic activity now then I ever have in the area.  Every building or garage that can be used for housing is full.  You can't rent anything.  You can not park on the main drag because every parking space is full.  

If you count fancy private farm workshops placed for highway show n tell miles from the farm, absolutely.  Have you counted the number of houses for sale in the villages in this county lately?  Or how about that 24900 sq ft empty building in Longton?  Now that woulda made a nice farm shop.

I don't get any money from the current wind farm and I don't have a problem with those that do.  I also don't receive any money from the oil wells underneath the turbines and sinces I don't own the land, I guess I shouldn't.  Nor do I get any money from the cattle the landowner has.  It is their land and I think it should be their business what goes on it.

You're right guns.  It shouldn't ever be about how much.  The how is another matter entirely.  Sunshine is a good thing.

[Wilma]

The "how much" is what the commissioners are going to decide when they have completed their study of where it could best be spent to benefit Elk County.  I still don't understand all the hullabaloo over something that isn't even in the coffers yet.

How about instead of tearing everything apart, coming up with some ideas about where the money should go to benefit the county?  Have any of you naysayers had a positive thought about this?  The payments, whatever they may come to, seem to be a certainty.  Does it matter that they won't come up to the One Million that has been stated as a starting point?  It is still a windfall for Elk County and we taxpayers are not having to pay up to raise it.

I know there have been a whole lot of ideas expressed, some of them doable and some not, but all of them have been shouted down as "what"?  What is your reason for not wanting Elk County to be improved?

[Patriot]

What is your reason for not wanting Elk County to be improved?

We want the county improved. The integrity and means are at question.  I would have thought you would have seen that by now as those points have been stated several times.