The Opportunity Cost Clock: What Every Month of Delay Actually Costs Imperial Valley
Opportunity cost is the economic concept that captures what you give up by choosing one path over another. In the context of the IVDC appeal, the opportunity cost is not the cost of a road not taken â it is the cost of a road that was approved, built to the starting line, and then blocked by legal action that forces the community to wait while the economic returns accumulate elsewhere.
The arithmetic is not complicated. The numbers are the numbers the project’s own economic impact analysis produced, and they are conservative.
Construction Phase Monthly Cost
The IVDC’s construction phase employs 1,688 union workers. At California prevailing wage rates for Imperial County â averaging approximately $58 per hour across trades, with benefits adding roughly 35% to total compensation â each construction worker represents approximately $12,000 per month in total compensation. Across 1,688 workers, the monthly payroll value is approximately $20 million. The construction phase is estimated at 18-24 months of primary activity.
Every month the project sits in appeal rather than under construction is a month that $20 million in worker compensation does not flow into Imperial Valley’s economy. That is not a rhetorical claim. It is a multiplication problem.
Property Tax Monthly Cost
The IVDC’s completed assessed value generates $28.75 million annually in property tax revenue. Divided by 12, the monthly property tax accrual to county services and school districts is approximately $2.4 million. The one-time construction-phase tax revenue â estimated at $72.5 million â also accrues during construction rather than waiting for completion. Every month of appeal delays when these revenues begin.
Permanent Job Monthly Cost
The permanent operational positions â approximately 300-500 direct employees at a facility of this scale, plus supply chain and induced employment â represent ongoing household income in the community. These positions are not filled until the facility is operational. Every month of construction delay is a month those positions remain elsewhere. Many of the workers who would fill them are making career decisions on shorter timescales than a multi-year litigation cycle â they are taking jobs in other regions while Imperial Valley’s opportunity sits in appellate limbo.
Who Pays the Tab
The attorneys filing the appeal charge their clients â ultimately, the City of Imperial’s taxpayers â for every brief written and every hearing attended. The economic opportunity cost falls on workers, school districts, county services, and the broader Imperial Valley community. The distribution of costs and benefits in this arrangement is not accidental. The people with standing to file appeals are not the people paying the largest cost of the delay those appeals cause. That asymmetry is the mechanism that makes CEQA weaponization economically rational for the entities using it, regardless of the damage it does to the communities that pay the price.
Original Article: https://www.ourimperialvalley.com/opportunity-cost-clock-what-every-month-delay-costs-imperial-valley/
