Thread: States Consider Selling Off Roads, Parks

States Consider Selling Off Roads, Parks
Saturday, December 27, 2008 1:00 PM

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Minnesota is deep in the hole financially, but the state still owns a premier golf resort, a sprawling amateur sports complex, a big airport, a major zoo and land holdings the size of the Central American country of Belize.

Valuables like these are in for a closer look as 44 states cope with deficits.

Like families pawning the silver to get through a tight spot, states such as Minnesota, New York, Massachusetts and Illinois are thinking of selling or leasing toll roads, parks, lotteries and other assets to raise desperately needed cash.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has hinted that his January budget proposal will include proposals to privatize some of what the state owns or does. The Republican is looking for cash to help close a $5.27 billion deficit without raising taxes.

GOP lawmakers are pushing to privatize the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and the state lottery. Both steps require a higher authority _ federal legislation in the case of the airport, a voter-approved constitutional amendment for the lottery. But one lawmaker estimated an airport deal could bring in at least $2.5 billion, and the lottery $500 million.

Massachusetts lawmakers are considering putting the Massachusetts Turnpike in private hands. That could bring in upfront money to help with a $1.4 billion deficit, while also saving on highway operating costs.

In New York, Democratic Gov. David Paterson appointed a commission to look into leasing state assets, including the Tappan Zee Bridge north of New York City, the lottery, golf courses, toll roads, parks and beaches. Recommendations are expected next month.

Such projects could be attractive to private investors and public pension funds looking for safe places to put their money in this scary economy, said Leonard Gilroy, a privatization expert with the market-oriented Reason Foundation in Los Angeles.

"Infrastructure is more attractive today than ever," Gilroy said. "It's tangible. It's a road. It's water. It's an airport. It's something that is _ you know, you hear the term recession-proof."

Unions don't like privatization deals out of fear that worker wages and benefits will be squeezed as private operators try to boost their profit by streamlining services.

Taxpayers, too, can lose out if the arrangements don't work _ and sometimes even if they do, said Mark Price, a labor economist with the Keystone Research Center in Harrisburg, Pa. Higher tolls on privatized roads can push drivers onto state-operated roads, wearing them down faster and raising public costs over time.

"You're privatizing some profits in this process and socializing some losses," Price said.

Selling or leasing public assets can produce an immediate infusion of cash for the state, while foisting the tough decisions, such as raising tolls, onto private operators instead of the politicians.

"The downsides are often after they leave office," said Phineas Baxandall, a researcher with the consumer-oriented U.S. Public Interest Research Group in Boston.

Some states struck major privatization deals well before the economic crisis hit.

Indiana, for example, brought in $3.8 billion in 2006 by leasing the Indiana Toll Road for 75 years. Chicago stands to collect $2.5 billion by leasing Midway Airport, if the federal government approves, and has raised an additional $3.5 billion since 2005 through deals for the Chicago Skyway toll road, parking ramps and parking meters.

But in September, investors walked away from a $12.8 billion bid to lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike for 75 years after legislators failed to act on the deal. And Texas lawmakers uneasy over a proposed private toll road system approved a two-year moratorium on such contracts last year.

David Fisher, who managed Minnesota's state-owned properties a few years ago under former Gov. Jesse Ventura, warned that the state has a hard time finding buyers for properties such as old mental institutions.

Fisher said some public properties belong in private hands, such as Giants Ridge Golf & Ski Resort, a top-rated getaway in Biwabik, and Ironworld, a museum and library in Chisholm. Both are owned and subsidized by Iron Range Resources, a state agency.

"Certainly those things could be privatized, I think without harm to the state, but I don't know that you could find the right buyer," Fisher said.

http://www.newsmax.com/us/meltdown_sell ... 65628.html

States Consider Selling Off Roads, Parks

If they sell to real Americans, I have no trouble with privitization.
It's when they sell our roads or anything to Saudi's and Spain that pisses me off.
No foreign countries should be sold any of our infastructure!

Leasing makes a lot more sense than an outright sale, but both concepts are nothing more than selling America piece-by-piece to the highest bidder from who knows what country. These were built by taxpayer funds on sovereign land of this country and were supposed to bring in revenue to help with government coffers, in theory, but apparently inept management of these facilities has led to this insanity, and government waste has gotten out of hand. Without capable government, more and more of taxpayer infrastructure will disappear off the books for quick cash inflow while the revenues go into someone else's pocket. And once they have again mismanaged their money next year, so then what happens? Any businessman will tell you that if the toll road is not bringing in enough revenue, you raise the damn tolls!
Government agencies operating on spending all of their budget plus some on no matter what stupidity just so that they can prove their need for an even bigger budget the following year has gotten all these states and municipalities into this mess. Has anyone really sat down and verified the veracity of expenditures? And where is the accountability?

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has hinted that his January budget proposal will include proposals to privatize some of what the state owns or does. The Republican is looking for cash to

We should demand no freebee's to illegals including schooling, especially if they think they are going to sell of America instead of enforcing our immigration laws!

How can they sell what they don't own? Public lands and infrastructure belong to the citizens........not the politicians!

Originally Posted by cvangel

How can they sell what they don't own? Public lands and infrastructure belong to the citizens........not the politicians!

I agree.

Interesting point, cvangel, but I think since government believes wholeheartedly that they are representing the best interests and will of the people they represent, they have taken the license to do anything they want to save their own butts and ineptitude. Do citizens have a vote in any contracts signed by administrators--very, very, very little.

How can they sell what they don't own? Public lands and infrastructure belong to the citizens........not the politicians!



I want to know the laws that allow them to do this. What statues? and when were they passed?