Newfound strength in a state turf war spills into Falls casino slots fight
More dollars could hit Niagara Falls streets
It was just shy of four years after the doors opened at the Seneca Niagara Casino before state lawmakers could agree on how to divvy up millions of new slots revenue that was flowing to the community.
A bitter fight over how to divide the money sparked a lawsuit, drew public protest and delayed the distribution of slots payments for more than a year.
Now, the money is threatening to divide Niagara County again.
A proposal by Assemblywoman Francine DelMonte and State Sen. Antoine Thompson to redirect the county’s share of the local slots revenue to the City of Niagara Falls for street repair has reignited a debate over how the money should be spent.
The plan comes at a time when wounds are still raw from the last bout.
“That was a tug of war,” said Niagara County Legislature Chairman William L. Ross. “There was a lawsuit there, but most of the action took place between your state legislators, and it seems to me that the action is still between your state legislators.”
The resolution of the casino cash debate came in the form of a state law signed in late 2006 that directed three-quarters of the local slots share to the City of Niagara Falls. The county then receives a slice of the remaining quarter — so far $976,892.
But DelMonte, a Democrat in the majority in the Assembly, was adamant at the time that all the money should flow through Niagara Falls.
State Sen. George D. Maziarz, a Republican in the then-Republicancontrolled State Senate with the support of a Republican governor, disagreed.
The resulting legislation was a hard-fought compromise between the two opposing views.
More than two years later, the political landscape in Albany has changed. Democrats are in control, and DelMonte wants to take back the county’s share.
“From the beginning, I truly wanted the entire local share of casino revenue to go to the city as the host community of the Seneca Niagara Casino,” DelMonte said. “The county has never developed a policy that’s consistent with the law. The law as it was drafted several years ago spoke exclusively to economic development, promotion of tourism and marketing.”
A list of casino revenue the county has already promised shows that most of the $276,500 committed has been allocated to soft costs that have loose connections to economic development or tourism.
One of every five dollars has gone to promote festivals throughout the county.
Ross defended the county’s slots spending.
Festivals and other promotional events organized by community groups help draw people to the region, he said.
Ross also pointed to an allocation of $40,000 for the Niagara Military Affairs Council as a prime example of how the money can be used for economic development.
The council has helped lobby for continued federal support of the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station, one of the largest employers in the county.
“I would think $40,000 is a pretty
good return for what we get,” Ross said.
Ross said he would like to see more “signature” economic development projects funded with the county’s share.
Ross and other county officials also argue that the money DelMonte wants to redirect is just a small amount — the leftovers— compared with the millions of casino revenue already directed to the city and other entities.
The amount of money the county has received so far is less than 2 percent of the total $50.2 million local share distributed by the state in the casino’s first six years.
“We’re at the bottom of the money chain of the casino gaming revenue, so it isn’t what you’d call a steady revenue for the county,” Ross said. “It might be here this year and not next year.”
Even that small amount, DelMonte contends, could create a dedicated revenue stream to repave streets in Niagara Falls.
“If the road issue wasn’t the priority it is, you wouldn’t have so many people calling out for funding to be diverted to help the city come to grips with the situation,” DelMonte said.
Casino revenue that winds its way to Niagara County follows a complex path hashed out between state lawmakers.
The 2002 gaming compact between the Seneca Nation of Indians and the state calls for between 18 percent and 25 percent of the slots revenue from the Niagara Falls casino to be paid to the state in exchange for exclusive rights to operate three casinos in Western New York. The compact does not speak to how that money should be spent.
In turn, a state law — often referred to as 99-h because of the section of state finance law it’s in — directs that 25 percent of the slots money the state receives from the Seneca Niagara Casino will be returned to the local community. The state keeps 75 percent of the slots revenue.
The local share is then divided among Niagara Falls — which receives three-quarters of the local money — and five other entities, including the county.
The other entities—Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center, Niagara Falls School District and a project to construct a new terminal at Niagara Falls International Airport — each receives a percentage of the funds.
The county then receives the balance of the money left over after the rest is distributed.
It was the county that filed a lawsuit in 2005 to argue that it should receive 75 percent of the local share, since 75 percent of the county population lives outside of Niagara Falls.
State Supreme Court Justice Ralph A. Boniello III dismissed the suit because no casino revenue formula was yet in place, but he did not rule on the merits of the claim.
Already, county lawmakers have sent signals that they’re preparing for a potential lawsuit if the state law is changed to take away the county’s casino cash share. Legislators met last week in a closed-door session with a private attorney from the firm that handled the 2005 casino cash lawsuit to discuss their options.
Ross said he would like to settle the issue outside of court without private attorney fees.
Niagara Falls Mayor Paul A. Dyster, who along with the City Council has thrown his support behind DelMonte’s proposal, said he is relying on the judgment of the lawmakers supporting the proposed changes.
“My assumption is if the people who were sponsoring this thought that it was likely to result in the disruption of the distribution of casino revenue, they wouldn’t be doing this,” Dyster said.
The mayor pointed out that millions of dollars of the local share of casino revenues are already dedicated to a project to construct a new terminal at the Niagara Falls International Airport outside Niagara Falls.
City leaders have had wide discretion to spend the $38 million of direct casino revenue the city has received so far.
Of that money, city leaders have chosen to spend 2.6 percent directly on street and sidewalk repair, but they have also used casino revenue to purchase equipment to maintain streets and used it to borrow money for full-depth street reconstruction.
DelMonte, who has been accused by county lawmakers of “reneging” on her negotiated casino cash deal, said she’s simply standing up for what she believes is right.
She doesn’t foresee a lengthy battle over casino cash again.
“We make laws. We amend laws. We repeal laws,” Del- Monte said. “It’s not an unusual occurrence.”
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