No issue will be more important in the coming months and years than the disposition of the local share of revenue from the Seneca Niagara Casino.
Expected to come to around $9 million this year, over the 14-year life of the Seneca compact the local share will amount to more than $200 million.
We've got a sinking feeling that the state, through organizations such as the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority, the USA Niagara Development Corp. and the Buffalo Niagara Partnership is going to attempt to hijack as much of it as possible.
Remember, the state already takes 75 percent of the money before the city sees a nickel of its 25 percent share.
An emergency room doctor doesn't treat a patient with a sore throat when someone else is there having a stroke. And Niagara Falls is a city on life support.
We're frankly troubled that state Sen. George Maziarz has frequently discussed spending the money on projects in Lockport, Sanborn and Wheatfield. We're troubled by rumors that projected cost overruns in the ill-advised attempt by the state to turn the dilapidated Falls Street Faire into a "meeting facility" will be so great that some of the money will be diverted there.
The involvement of Niagara USA Chamber CEO Bobby Newman is another bad sign. His real loyalty is to Erie County, where he serves on the board of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership. Recently, that group received a $5,000 state grant that recommended, well, sending the money to Buffalo.
Mayor-elect Vince Anello and soon-to-be Council Chairman Charles Walker have said repeatedly the money should be spent in the city, which has borne the entire cost of hosting the casino. Both will have votes on the five-member board appointed to oversee the revenue.
They have the strong backing of state Sen. Byron Brown, who sits on the board as a non-voting member.
The other votes belong to Maziarz, whose views are known, Charles Gargano, head of the Empire State Development Corp. and a prominent Republican fund-raiser, and state Assemblywoman Francine Del Monte, who has been largely silent on the issue.
The Reporter will strongly oppose any attempt to divert the money from Niagara Falls until the city is made whole for the millions already lost in bed-tax revenue from the closing of the convention center, for overtime incurred by police and other city workers and other costs incurred by the casino's opening.
Furthermore, until the streets in the South End are paved and something is done to offset the property tax base lost when the state essentially gave the Senecas 50 acres of city property, the thought of sending money away from the "host municipality" is unconscionable.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | November 18 2003 |