Members of the Albuquerque City Council should (have) opposed the proposed Topgolf funding they (recently approved). Without some fuzzy math and wishful thinking, this deal doesn’t pass the smell test.
An out-of-state, multimillion-dollar company stands to benefit from over $4 million in incentives from the county and city. What does this project actually bring to the city?
Low-wage, low-skill jobs are the major contribution of the project, besides using a vacant piece of land. It will be a positive to develop the old Beach Waterpark site proposed for Topgolf, but given good economic conditions, other developers or possibly Topgolf would likely utilize the site at some time in the future without these outrageous incentives.
With population stagnant, any “new” gross receipts collected by Topgolf will be offset by reductions in collections at other local recreation businesses and possibly even city-owned golf facilities. (The estimated) $21,000 per job (pay) is a complete rip-off when considering the fact that most of those to be employed stand to make far less than this annually.
If councilors are going to subsidize low-wage jobs, why not spend $1 million a year for 4 years on city positions to hire youth and disadvantaged adults to clean streets, parks, etc?
Consider the company Lavu; it is in line for a far smaller pot of incentives from the state and county, but its annual average wage is near $50,000.
The Lavu deal costs around $34,130 per job, meaning that this is a true incentive to create high-paying jobs. The Lavu jobs actually contribute to meaningful growth in the economy and bring top talent to Albuquerque. Around $50K a year is enough to buy a home, pay state taxes, eat out at local restaurants and support other economic activities that grow the local economy.
The sub $20K-a-year jobs at Topgolf will require employees to hold a second job to make ends meet or employees will have to rely on supplemental government benefits, i.e. Medicaid, food stamps, etc.