$16,000 Per Employee

That's the expense rate that NBC is seeking to open up their new play-pen in the (struggling) Houston Pavilions downtown development.

City, NBC to announce agreement for downtown Comcast SportsNet Houston studios Wednesday, David Barron, ChronBlog

The NBC Sports Group was seeking about $2 million in city and state support for studios and office space for the network, which will employ about 125 people.

Let's be charitable and assume that the average salary for the 125 people is $80K. (I'm betting that number is high) With that math the City and State will be paying the full salaries of 1 in 5 NBC/Comcast employees.

Is it any wonder the City is studying a tax increase? They have a hard enough time meeting their own employment obligations, now they're taking on 1/5th of a private company as well.

And yes, this is the same reason I have a problem with local and State programs designed to drive "job growth", including Governor Perry's two State Lege approved slush funds. It's an ineffective use of scarce resources.