Anaheim Disputes Disney Figures on Extra Revenue From Expansion : Development: City says that additional hotel and property taxes won’t come close to the millions that park officials projected.

ANAHEIM —  The $3-billion proposed expansion of Disneyland may produce far less tax revenue for Anaheim than Disney officials first suggested, city officials warned Thursday.

According to members of the City Council, city analysts and private consultants indicated earlier this week that additional property tax and hotel tax revenues expected to be reaped from the Disneyland Resort project would not match the millions that Disney projected in June.

“It appears that the numbers are significantly different,” Mayor Fred Hunter said of information presented at a Tuesday council briefing. “It doesn’t take a Solomon to figure that out.”

The council was briefed on the preliminary findings of an ongoing study measuring the potential financial benefits the Disney expansion would bring to Anaheim. However, neither Hunter nor other city officials could say how large the revenue gap was between Disney’s projections and the city’s preliminary findings.

The city’s report is expected to be completed within the next few weeks and will be studied by local officials.

Disney officials have yet to decide whether to locate their second Southern California theme park in Anaheim or in Long Beach.

The $3-billion Anaheim project would include a new hotel district, a network of plazas and pedestrian walkways, retail district, 5,000-seat amphitheater and Westcot Center theme park.

For Long Beach, Disney has proposed an ocean-theme resort called Port Disney, five new hotels, 400 marina slips, a cruise ship port and the DisneySea theme park.

In its own financial impact study presented two months ago, Disney estimated that the Anaheim expansion would bring the city an additional $43 million in revenue each year, the largest portions coming from increases in the city’s take from local hotel and property taxes.

According to the Disney study, hotel tax revenues would be increased by nearly $31 million and property taxes by $3.1 million. The remainder would come from sales tax revenue and other miscellaneous income.

But Hunter said the Disney study contains “major errors” in estimating the city’s share of hotel and property tax revenues.

Of the entertainment company’s estimate of increased hotel taxes, the mayor said Disney did not take into account that portions of the levy had already been earmarked for a number of other projects in the Disneyland area, such as installing underground utility lines. Because of that, Hunter said, the city would not see additional discretionary money pour into the general fund.

“Those numbers are really skewed,” Hunter said of the Disney estimates, adding that he still believes that the council is unanimously committed to going forward with the project. “It’s just a matter of how we get there. Now is the time for our team and their team to come up with a mechanism.”

Councilman Irv Pickler said he had always believed Disney’s estimates to be high and was told Tuesday to expect more conservative estimates from the city study.

“No figures were discussed,” Pickler said. “It was all just preliminary.”

Kerry Hunnewell, Disney Development Co. vice president, said he had not seen the city’s financial study and could not comment on the preliminary findings but expected there to be differences in the findings.

“We will sit down and reconcile (the differences),” Hunnewell said. “It’s like the House and Senate putting together budgets and then coming together to work them out.”

Still, Hunnewell said he does not believe that the city’s overall findings will be “terribly different” from Disney’s.

Hunnewell said discussions with city officials have been taking place on “multiple fronts.” “This is a very complicated process,” Hunnewell said. “Meetings are going on almost every day of every week.”

If Disney expands in Anaheim, city officials have said, their cost to complete the project could reach $500 million, largely for the construction of two massive parking garages to hold more than 30,000 vehicles. Disney recently failed in its bid for federal funds to help finance its parking and transportation proposals.

In Long Beach, Disney was reportedly asking for use of public land and for transportation and utility improvements valued at about $880 million.