How much public money is enough? In 2017, Park City spent $19.5 million of our tax dollars to buy the 5-acre Bonanza Park parcel. Nearly a decade later, the city wants to dig a massive financial hole to fill it with concrete. Never mind any consulting fees, costly studies and years of opportunit y lost.   Park City initially committed $30 million to support the Brinshore Development project at the Bonanza Park site. However, in recent 2027 budget discussions, the city council began considering up to $75 million in bonds paid back by transient room taxes to fund supporting infrastructure, green spaces, plazas and parking. Why is it so high? Look underground. Constructing a single underground parking stall costs roughly $84,000 upfront as per city projections. Add 25 years of maintenance and approximately 4.0 to 4.5% debt service based on Park City’s AA+ bond rating, and that number skyrockets to over $165,000 per parking space. Crucially, federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) cannot fund public-access/commercial underground garages. Depending on the nature of the garage, the taxpayer could be footing the bill for ridiculously expensive garage stalls.  With around 280 underground spaces planned, we are looking at tens of millions spent just to park cars at a notoriously gridlocked chokepoint. If affordable housing is truly the goal, why build it on top of a subterranean garage in a high-water-table zone? It is ridiculous to bury millions here when we could build housing far more cost-effectively elsewhere. Existing residents will bear this financial burden. The City Council needs to answer two simple questions: Exactly how many millions of our tax subsidies or public bonds are being used solely to fund this absurdly expensive underground garage instead of finding a fiscally responsible housing location?  At a time when our community is begging for fiscal restraint — and we just had to shame this council into rolling back their attempt to double their own salaries — why is the city prioritizing a heavily subsidized garage over a lower-cost, open-air central park? It is time to stop digging and start protecting the wallets of local taxpayers.  My statistics are gleaned from Park City Municipal documents, the LIHTC website (some of this information is still TBD depending on how many public versus private stalls there are) and municipal bond rating websites. You can buy an actual home around the same price as an underground Park City parking stall in other parts of the country. A new career lane? Interior design for parking stalls? Phoebe Hailey  Park City The post The $165,000 parking stall appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less