The Duluth school district's long-range facilities plan will have a nearly $450 million economic impact in the Duluth-Superior area and provide work for about 1,600 people, according to a study sponsored by the Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce.
Results of the study were presented at a chamber luncheon at the Radisson Hotel this afternoon. The chamber, which has previously endorsed the red plan, contracted with the University of Minnesota Duluth's Labovitz School of Business and Economics and the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development to conduct the research.
The biggest chunk of work created by the red plan will go toward the construction companies hired to actually implement the plan, according to James Skurla, the director of the Labovitz School of Business and Economics Bureau of Business and Economic Research who presented part of the findings today.
But the money doesn't stop there. Skurla said it has a ripple affect as those workers use the money earned from the red plan to shop in local stores and buy local supplies.
"All of that in turn creates different rounds of spending that benefit the economy," he said. "The size of the economic impact from the red plan is a major stimulus for this economy."
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Critics of the long-range plan in attendance at the luncheon said they were not necessarily surprised by the results of the study but said it only looked at a narrow piece of the economic puzzle.
"This whole thing is built upon a population of people with fixed incomes and a regressive tax system... this may be great for the construction companies but how about the economic impact it has on the poorer people paying for it," said Harry Welty, a lead spokesman for the anti-red plan group Let Duluth Vote.
Others questioned if the study took into account the loss of tax base from senior citizens or businesses that choose to relocate out of Duluth because they can no longer afford to pay taxes on the red plan. Welty also asked what kind of impact the loss of Duluth students choosing to open enroll to other districts because of the red plan had on the economy.
Skurla said the study did not take into account some of those components because they would be very costly to research and he was not asked to address them in this study. He added that they do have an effect on the economic pictures and encouraged the community to track them in the future.
Keith Dixon, the superintendent of the Duluth school district, said it was encouraging to see the results of the study.
"I am excited that we can in the end not only create high quality schools with this plan ... but at the same time provide economic development in our region at a time when it is so desperately needed," he said.
The full results of the study are available online at the Chamber's Web site at www.duluthchamber.com
