BERKELEY 鈥 School districts, libraries and municipalities now have estimates on how much they would lose 鈥 and gain 鈥 in Boeing Co.鈥檚 nearly $2 billion expansion project.
Ferguson-Florissant School District would get roughly $79 million over 10 years if Boeing indeed builds the expansion, according to an analysis released this week by 最新杏吧原创 County that also adds details on the project鈥檚 timeline and construction plans. The Special School District would get $15 million.
And the city of Berkeley would collect an estimated $18 million over the life of the agreement.
鈥淚 want to find a word that is adequate to describe this,鈥 said City Manager Nathan Mai-Lombardo. 鈥淭his is a transformational amount of money for the city of Berkeley. The residents would see dramatic improvements in services and facilities with that amount of money.鈥
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The project would send Berkeley about $1.8 million a year, or the equivalent of half the city鈥檚 fire department budget or nearly half of what it costs the police department to operate for a year, said Mai-Lombardo.
Berkeley Street Superintendent Keith White works in his office at the street department building in Berkeley on Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023. If聽Boeing does an expansion, the city of Berkeley could collect additional taxes that could be used to help renovate and improve the streets department building, invest in public safety, and help spur commercial development.
The analysis comes as 最新杏吧原创 County Council considers tax breaks on Boeing鈥檚 proposal. The military-industrial giant is looking to expand in north 最新杏吧原创 County and promises the project would bring 500 new jobs to the region, plus at least 1,000 more from suppliers and the like. The company hasn鈥檛 said what it wants to manufacture there, but the aerospace industry has long been ramping up for a national competition to build the next generation of U.S. fighter jets.
The tax break, worth an estimated $155 million over 10 years, would give Boeing half off real and personal property taxes during that time period.
The analysis released Wednesday shows the deal would also send the same amount to 16 county taxing bodies over the decade, including:
- Ferguson-Florissant: $79 million
- Berkeley: $18 million
- 最新杏吧原创 County Special School District: $15 million
- 最新杏吧原创 Community College: $4 million
- County health fund: $3.7 million
- County libraries: $3.5 million
- 最新杏吧原创 County general fund, which pays for most county services: $2.8 million
- Commercial surtax, which is distributed among taxing districts: $19.5 million
Ferguson-Florissant is still evaluating the proposal, said spokeswoman Onye Hollomon. Berkeley is on board. It doesn鈥檛 bother Mai-Lombardo that the city would get double the amount if Boeing were to do the project without tax abatements.
Over grown brush lines Berkeley Avenue in the former Brownleigh subdivision in Berkeley, as seen on Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023. The land, located to the east of 最新杏吧原创 Lambert International Airport, is where Boeing has proposed building an expansion but is asking for tax breaks to help fund the development.
鈥淩ight now, Berkeley is getting zero from that site,鈥 he said.
The extra cash would help 最新杏吧原创 County some: The county faces a $44 million budget deficit this year in its general fund. Republican Councilman Dennis Hancock of Fenton said earlier this week it鈥檚 worth considering whether Boeing鈥檚 tax revenue could help fill the gap.
Still, it鈥檚 just $275,000 per year projected to go to the general fund.
The new documents clarify that Boeing would be exempt from all real and personal property tax, but would agree to paying half the value anyway 鈥 an arrangement known as a payment in lieu of taxes.
The analysis also provides new details about Boeing鈥檚 timeline and construction plans.
Construction on a million square feet of new assembly, hangar and operations space near 最新杏吧原创 Lambert International Airport will start in 2025 and end in 2037. Boeing would construct 10 buildings and one open-air structure.
The 102-acre site is on the east end of the airport and is named after the former Brownleigh subdivision. The airport bought out the land starting in the 1980s as it expanded east, causing an uproar among residents who complained about aircraft noise. As residents left, their homes were demolished.
The remainder of the project would be built on the airport鈥檚 northern end. The land includes two vacant buildings used decades ago by Boeing鈥檚 predecessor, McDonnell-Douglas. The company would also have the option of leasing about 28 acres to the west of that site.
Today, the land is vacant, a mix of overgrown vegetation and crumbling roads from an old neighborhood. In May, the Missouri Department of Economic Development awarded a $2.5 million grant to 最新杏吧原创, which owns the airport, to clean up the site and prepare it for new infrastructure.
Robert Schneider, 69, lived in the Brownleigh subdivision as a child. He recalls modest one- and two-story middle-class homes and a neighborhood 鈥渙verloaded with kids.鈥 His family moved away before the airport expansion, but he鈥檚 still nostalgic, and slightly bitter, that the subdivision land hasn鈥檛 been used for something true to what he remembers.
鈥淚t was nice, but that鈥檚 the way it is. There鈥檚 nothing I can do about it or anybody else,鈥 said Schneider, who lives in Berkeley now. 鈥淏oeing is going to do what it鈥檚 going to do.鈥
He鈥檚 glad the site could be put to use, however, and generate revenue for the school district.
DEMOGRAPHIC CHALLENGE: 最新杏吧原创 was one of the nation's slowest-growing metro areas over the past decade. Jim Gallagher argues that we should worry more about quality of life, but David Nicklaus counters that the area can't prosper without growth.
