I’m no banker — and you can tell from my car — but I’m having a hard time with the latest Charlotte’s art funding numbers to come spinning — and I do mean spinning — out of the powers-that-be.

Bank of Wachovia Power has tossed the couch cushions in the executive lounge to come up with an additional $17 million to pledge to the Arts & Sciences Council, for a total of $35 million pledged. Also, we are told that the grand plan to shift the cost of maintaining performance spaces from the public sector and onto the private arts groups funded by ASC now totals only $18.8 million, magically down from the $24 million number in circulation earlier this year. Recall that that rather large number seemed daunting to some in Charlotte arts community:

“Somebody is smoking crack,” one very active member of the Charlotte arts scene declares. The plan the ASC has taken to the city council, heavy as it is on new buildings, simply does not address the actual wants and desires of the grassroots arts community and merely pretends that millions can be easily raised to takeover city costs. … As city councilman Don Lochman has noted, there is nothing in the ASC funding plan that makes clear the arts groups can indeed handle $24 million in upkeep costs.

So the additional $17 million is clearly intended to wipe away fears that the ASC cannot pay the bills. It comes closer but there still seems to be a potential gap of several million dollars. Then there are other aspects of the $150 million plan that do not quite scan.

The deal by which Wachovia gets to direct $41 million of its new office tower property taxes towards new performance spaces — is that deal open to all Charlotte taxpayers, or just huge corporate ones? If so, I’d like to stipulate that my property tax dollars be used for twice a week trash pick-up at my house. Thank you. Be sure to contact your city council rep and let them know how you want your money spent.

And now we are told that raising the car-rental tax from 11 percent to 15 percent will bring in a projected $80 million, up from $67 million earlier. What changed? In fact, Charlotte residents need a lot more data on this particular idea to be able to make sense out of it. What exactly are the expected annual revenue gains of going from 11 to 15 percent on car rentals?

For example, when Denver contemplated going from 13.35 rate to a 14.35 rate, the city expected to see a $2.8 million a year gain.

Then there is the bottom-line on this building plan, as noted very clearly by The Charlotte Business Journal:

Under the latest plan, all but $10 million of the $150.5 million proposal would be paid through various tax-revenue sources.

Further, let’s remember that some in the local arts community — perhaps many given a well-replaced reluctance to offend the grant-makers at the ASC — worry that several new buildings just are not what Charlotte’s arts community needs right now. In fact, it is hard to escape the conclusion that backers of the grand building plan simply looked at the $265 million in public money spent on the Uptown arena and figured $140 million for buildings for them to play in sounded about right.

And guess what, with dependable Jim Black leading the way, they’ve got a good shot at getting their car-rental tax and their new buildings.