Painting by Numbers
Geo
manufacturer would provide you with a canvas mapped out with many
regions, each identified by number. The kit gave you the start. It was
then up to you to finish the picture by coloring the numbered regions
according to the directions provided. Very gradually you would see a
beautiful picture unfold. For the artists among us with the desire (yet
limited talent), simple pleasure and delight resulted over the course
of a few hours.
In Harmony we have another kind of number painting going on.
The picture of a developer with unparalleled support for quality
education in Harmony has been unfolding over the course of several
years rather than just a few hours. Like the painting kits of yore, it
would appear that Starwood and Harmony Development also use numbers to
help paint their picture for all the world to see.
In the past we've had phony claims of a "great education" offered in
Harmony made repeatedly in various formats. Now we have a new press
release dated July 12, 2006 (it's not on the website yet) titled "It's
Official: Osceola County School Board Approves New Permanent Elementary
School in Harmony".
In the press release we are informed that "Harmony's donations and
contributions to educational support to date have exceeded $15,000,000.
... Harmony Development Company will donate the land (10 acres valued
at $4,000,000) ..."
When I read "10 acres valued at $4,000,000" I thought, golly that IS
impressive! This developer really does put its money where its mouth
is! Well not quite.
I'm no appraiser, but to get a better idea of how much the developer
has really donated to the school, I think we need to find out how much
money was actually paid most recently for all this land. Luckily this
information is readily available. See "Reference Materials - Sales
Agreement Between Jim Lentz and Starwood Corp. (ie. Three E and
SOF-Harmony Funding)" posted May 8, 2006.
According to the official record submitted to the U.S. government,
Starwood (the new owners of Harmony Development) paid:
$3,750,000 To Jim Lentz
+ $75,000,000 To Arthur J. Gallagher & Company
+ $17,700,000 for CDD Bonds?
+ $650,000 for Alligator Lake Inn
- $12,410,000 Bond Debt?
=============
$84,690,000
I am no accountant either, so just in case my understanding is off by a
few million dollars, let's just say that Harmony was bought most
recently (March 22, 2005) by Starwood for less than $100,000,000. And
from all of the marketing materials we have ever seen about Harmony,
the totality of this development is 11,000 acres.
Using simple arithmetic we can determine that the per acre value of
Harmony acreage last year was $100,000,000 / 11,000 acres = $9090 per
acre. Assuming we disregard the 70% of Harmony that will remain
undeveloped (again, according to marketing materials), we would have
$100,000,000 / 3,300 acres = $30,303 per acre.
So being conservative (like the developers, I would assume), 10 acres
of land in Harmony on March 22, 2005 had a value of less than $100,000.
Being somewhat more liberal, 10 acres of land in Harmony on March 22,
2005 had a value of less than $305,000.
Thus instead of a $4,000,000 donation of land by Harmony Development to
the school as they claim, what we really have is a $300,000 donation,
or more accurately a $100,000 donation. That's a whopping 40 to 1
inflation rate!
Applying the same rate of inflation to the entire $15,000,000
educational donation claimed by Harmony Development yields an adjusted
grand total of $375,000.
We know that the charter school was briefly funded by the developer to
the tune of a few hundred thousand dollars, so perhaps the actual value
of the developer's contribution to education in Harmony amounts to
about $750,000.
Don't get me wrong. $750,000 is certainly a lot of money. You might buy
a nice custom home in Harmony for that amount.
Of course, the number $750,000 doesn't paint quite the same picture of
Starwood and Harmony Development's commitment to education in Harmony
as $15,000,000 does. But it does serve as another marketing tool about
the schools in Harmony, right?
For what is the real value of all that acreage without quality schools?