ACHTUNG: This is not a “fair and balanced” article. It is an editorial by the editor.
The ghost of Wal-Mart’s invasion of Hastings 25 years ago has been plaguing my dreams of late, in the wake of the recent decision by the K & M Chrysler-Jeep dealership to locate in Hopkins Township rather than in Wayland.
I have absolutely no evidence of any nefarious manipulative intentions by K & M, but I still worry the door has been opened to unpleasant consequences, mostly dealing with infrastructure and services.
K & M officials last month explained they looked carefully at a site on Reno Drive in the city limits, to which to move from its current location just north of the city limits on 10th Street. Moving appeared to make sense because of the time-honored business mantra of “location, location, location.” It didn’t make sense that the old Alflen car dealership, later known as Wayland Dodge Chrysler-Jeep, would remain for much longer in that same spot, mostly because of a lack of room and a need for more visibility.
Lack of space caused K & M to use temporary lots on Reno Drive and even on the north side of Dahlia Street for parking trucks, causing many to believe the move would be to across the street from the carpenters’ and millwrights’ training center.
But K & M had a change of plans and in September appeared before the Hopkins Township Board to seek a site on the west side of the expressway. Visibility there indeed is much greater, but there had to be another reason for the choice — lower taxes.
As Ranger Rick has said often on this on-line rag, “money goes where it is treated best.” Another way of explaining that is that business often will choose to set up shop where the taxes are lowest. It’s a business decision.
K & M will be on the hook for less than a mill for general property taxes and will have a much smaller bill for police, fire, water and solid waste. It costs more to do business in the city, which provides more in the way of services.
K & M officials have announced they are working on putting in a septic system and water wells.
But this is where the Ghost of Wal-Mart haunts me.
When Wal-Mart came to Hastings about 25 years ago, it deliberately landed on a site in Rutland Township, just outside the city limits. Not long afterward, the retail giant sought sewer and water from the city because they were more reliable, and a tax sharing arrangement was proposed.
Then-City Manager Howard Penrod repeatedly warned, “I will not allow Wal-Mart to grow at the expense of the City of Hastings,” and insisted on a much larger than customary price in the agreement. The customary price for other entities was twice the rate of businesses within the city.
Wal-Mart finally agreed, but a quarter of a century later there is a virtual mini-mall outside the city because other businesses came in to try to take advantage of Wal-Mart’s pull with customers.
Even worse, taxpayers would wind up footing the bill for the necessary widening of lanes along M-37/M-43 and the installation of a new traffic light.
So money went where it was treated best, away from the city and toward Rutland Township. Meanwhile, Wal-Mart essentially was the beneficiary, making it the recipient of corporate welfare.
I hope I made it clear earlier in this treatise that I have no evidence such things will happen here, but Wal-Mart’s Ghost saga continues to make me nervous.