Comparing Apples and Coconuts, maybe?

The following is a letter I wrote to The Journal in response to an item by Doug Copenhaver, of the Martinsburg City Council, in which he spoke scathingly of costs and delays in government projects, and glowingly of private projects.  The letter will be printed within the week.

It is amazing how much disinformation can be packed into an item as short as that by Doug Copenhaver on page A6 of Sunday’s Journal.    It could hardly even be said that he is comparing apples to oranges when he compares a government project with a commercial project in the county.  His take on the government project—negative.  His take on the commercial project—positive, even though, in fact, the commercial project could not exist without government largesse, including your taxes.

Infrastructure, such as the Raleigh Street Extension of which Copenhaver speaks, is a common good and it is expected that government will  provide for such projects.  It would be considered deplorable if government were to rush through approval and funding of such projects without adequate planning.  Also, as Copenhaver rightly points out, such projects often involve city, state, and federal dollars to construct.  Copenhaver deplores the requirement that the project adhere to the Davis-Bacon Act.   This law requires that contractors for government projects pay prevailing wages (which Copenhaver calls a euphemism) to their workers, preventing them from importing labor from low-income states, immigrants, etc., just in order to keep costs down.  The act forbids contractors to pay lower wages just in order to keep the bidding price down.    Copenhaver’s “Rule of thumb” figure of 30% cost of a project if union wages are paid is suspect.  It doesn’t sound like an accounting figure.  Construction workers in Berkeley County should be pleased to know that Copenhaver, owner of a construction firm himself, is in favor of lowest possible wages being paid to them.  Including when it comes to building a new county high school next year.

As to the lauded Macy’s Fulfillment Center using private as against public dollars, with contractors hired by them and not bound by Davis-Bacon:

As part of a negotiation with the Berkeley County Council, Macy’s will pay no property taxes for 15 years, and no payments-in-lieu of taxes (PILOT) for six years.  By the PILOT program Macy’s will pay about $11.5 million instead of possible property taxes of $21 million, over a 15-year period.

Macy’s also received a loan for site preparation, and The West Virginia Economic Development Authority authorized a bond issue of up to $176.1 million for the project, to deal with any unanticipated costs that may come up.  As well, the state is providing $7.3 million in incentives, including a $5 million loan to Berkeley County Development authority to help prepare the site for the Macy’s center; $1.8 million from the Governor’s Guaranteed Workforce Program for job training; $500,000 for the Community and Technical College System to assist Macy’s with its start-up training.  As well, Macy’s is exempted from state sales tax for any equipment it purchases for the center.

Macy’s plans to invest about $150 million in the project, of which some estimates say that about $25 milllion would be wages for construction workers.

West Virginia Affiliated Construction Trades Foundation — an organization that represents union construction workers — complained that West Virginia companies did not get to bid on the project, which was awarded to a Tennessee contractor.  There’s apparently no requirement that the jobs be local, much less union.

It would be interesting to be able to compare wages paid to construction workers on the Raleigh Street project as against those paid by Macy’s contractor.

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