Overture deal would cost taxpayers extra $500K a year, study says.

Welcome to the next black hole for Madison property owners and add it to the list I have created in blogs below.  Thank you Mayor Dave!

Madison taxpayers would add roughly another half-million dollars in average annual maintenance costs to the $1.4 million a year they now contribute to the Overture Center if the city takes ownership of the arts center as proposed, according to a report presented Thursday by an aide to Mayor Dave Cieslewicz.

Some members of an advisory committee on the purchase plan are asking if more of the costs could be picked up by private donors who are expected to back a nonprofit group to operate the center.

The report projects maintenance costs of $19.3 million over the next 15 years, with the city responsible for $9.78 million and the operator responsible for $9.54 million, said Andrew Statz, the aide who led a group of experts in cataloging the center’s needs.

At issue is about $4.4 million of the total that the report splits evenly between the city and the operator, pending negotiations over who should pick up the tab for the items.