Sixers Move to Camden Will Cost Philly $2 Million a Year

Philadelphia Business Journal reports that the Sixers decision to move their headquarters and practice facility to Camden will cost the city $2 million a year. That number comes from Mark S. McDonald, the mayor’s spokesman.

The exact amount is difficult to determine, he said, since any Philadelphia residents who commute to the Camden facility — expected to open in 2016 — will still have to pay a reduced city wage tax in Philadelphia.

McDonald said that figure is a small piece of Philadelphia’s $3.8 billion budget, but he said the sum is “not inconsequential” when considering how it also covers the city’s costs for employing a certain number of police officers, social workers or other city workers.

The upside? “The reality here is the revitalization of Camden is something that is important to the city of Philadelphia,” McDonald told the journal. “We are part of a region, and a regional economy.”