Apple promises to pay Cupertino $9.7M for transport projects in exchange for delaying tax ...
Apple is proposing to pay $9.7 million towards eco-friendly transportation projects in Cupertino after the city agreed to delay tax changes that could have cost it $9 million per year.
Apple's budget injection would specifically go towards bikeways, trails, sidewalk upgrades, and traffic and pedestrian safety improvements, said The Mercury News. The biggest of five projects, valued at $4.63 million, would be bikeways along McClellan Road coupled with better sidewalks and a new signal light at the intersection of McClellan and DeAnza -- just down the road from Apple's 1 Infinite Loop campus.
The company scrambled into action last year, when the city began considering switching a business license tax from one based on square footage to the number of workers a business employs. The money could've potentially added $10 million to Cupertino's annual budget, most of that coming from Apple -- the iPhone maker dominates the city, employing some 24,000 people. Indeed much of the area's traffic congestion can be linked to Apple commuters going to Infinite Loop or Apple Park.
The city is now postponing a ballot measure until 2020, specifically with the aim of getting Apple and other businesses' private funding towards alleviating traffic. Government staff have reportedly been meeting with Apple representatives "once every two weeks" since October.
Some Cupertino council members have criticized the situation, noting that a one-time payment of $9.7 million doesn't compare against $10 million per year, and that the planned projects don't directly target vehicle traffic, instead assuming people will take alternate means of transportation such as bikes, scooters, and boards.
Vice Mayor Liang Chao has called for city staff involving the council more closely in talks with Apple, and asked whether the company might be willing to swap some projects out for car thoroughfare improvements. Chao and council member Darcy Paul have also proposed Apple putting money towards a community shuttle that would connect destinations with transportation hubs.
"Apple was interested in bike and pedestrian improvements...it's not that every need the city has, you go and ask them for money," Mayor Steven Scharf commented, later responding to Chao by saying "I think they've decided how much they want to donate."
Whether or not the council actually accepts Apple's offer will be decided in a later vote.
Apple's budget injection would specifically go towards bikeways, trails, sidewalk upgrades, and traffic and pedestrian safety improvements, said The Mercury News. The biggest of five projects, valued at $4.63 million, would be bikeways along McClellan Road coupled with better sidewalks and a new signal light at the intersection of McClellan and DeAnza -- just down the road from Apple's 1 Infinite Loop campus.
The company scrambled into action last year, when the city began considering switching a business license tax from one based on square footage to the number of workers a business employs. The money could've potentially added $10 million to Cupertino's annual budget, most of that coming from Apple -- the iPhone maker dominates the city, employing some 24,000 people. Indeed much of the area's traffic congestion can be linked to Apple commuters going to Infinite Loop or Apple Park.
The city is now postponing a ballot measure until 2020, specifically with the aim of getting Apple and other businesses' private funding towards alleviating traffic. Government staff have reportedly been meeting with Apple representatives "once every two weeks" since October.
Some Cupertino council members have criticized the situation, noting that a one-time payment of $9.7 million doesn't compare against $10 million per year, and that the planned projects don't directly target vehicle traffic, instead assuming people will take alternate means of transportation such as bikes, scooters, and boards.
Vice Mayor Liang Chao has called for city staff involving the council more closely in talks with Apple, and asked whether the company might be willing to swap some projects out for car thoroughfare improvements. Chao and council member Darcy Paul have also proposed Apple putting money towards a community shuttle that would connect destinations with transportation hubs.
"Apple was interested in bike and pedestrian improvements...it's not that every need the city has, you go and ask them for money," Mayor Steven Scharf commented, later responding to Chao by saying "I think they've decided how much they want to donate."
Whether or not the council actually accepts Apple's offer will be decided in a later vote.
Comments
Apple is the largest taxpayer in Cupertino. This is Cupertino trying to move the goalposts after the score was made.
(Don’t worry, I have plenty of complaints for both sides of politics).
Yes, if that was all they did they wouldn’t have to come up with endlessly new ways to grind their boot on their constituents’ faces. It is because these governments have too many vanity projects using OPM. Most of them probably don’t treat those basics with any thought whatsoever until the discover they need funding. Instead, must have that Sister City project! And that European export promotion junket! How about running a special day for your [increasingly atomised] identity group?
That Cupertino waited until the spaceship was built and occupied to put up this tax proposal is the very definition of a shakedown to me. Anti business. Anti employment.
The lesson is not to do business in Cupertino.
The solution to your concern is to prevent corporations getting into bed with politicians. These kinds of market manipulations benefit established players, and create barriers for new entrants to markets. That suits established corporations. Ban lobbying, ban PACs, ban earmarking legislation, and the world would be a better place.
That at is not what is going on here though. This is just parasitic government being too focussed on the thought of what they can do with the money from new revenue sources rather than thinking about the likely changes to employer behaviour induced by the design of their new tax. A tax on employing people.
They moved into that building less than 2 years ago, so although I agree that things can change it seems like a money grab to change the rules this quickly after such a HUGE investment in the city was completed.
I see no issues with that. Better than dropping $9M on the local gov't that may decide instead to use that money for bringing in a competitor, wasting it on consultant reports, or just pissing it away. I don't think gov't is ALWAYS wasteful, but when you can 100% fund specific and much needed projects that seems like a win for everyone. Company gets more bang for their buck, the community gets improvements, and taxpayers aren't on the hook for them.