madisoncourier.com
Belterra Casino’s state license expires this year, and that could be just the hammer Switzerland County needs to stop the state’s raid on its treasury.
Now might not be the best time to play that card, though, Switzerland County Council president Mike Jones told the County Council and about 20 people who gathered Saturday morning to talk about a bill in the Senate that would take riverboat money from Switzerland and other counties such as Jefferson and send it to the state instead.
“We’ve been saving our powder a little bit,” Jones said when a man in the audience asked, “Why not say we don’t want it if money’s not there?”
Later in the meeting, Jones said, “Right now it’s the legislative process. We’re talking about the other things (options). ... We know what card we hold.”
He said county officials “have been spending a lot of time on it.”
For now, county attorney Jon Bond said, the focus needs to be on getting the General Assembly to drop the idea of taking money from counties, and time is short because the General Assembly is scheduled to adjourn at the end of the month.
He urged the public to call, e-mail and write to Gov. Mitch Daniels as soon as possible.
“The governor has the power to stop this all by himself,” said Bond, who is working with an Indianapolis lobbying firm of Lewis-Kappes. Later in the meeting he said, “We’ve got to keep the heat on the governor.”
Daniels said Thursday that he would prefer that the money not be taken from casino host counties like Switzerland and the counties they share some of the money with, like Jefferson. Switzerland County also shares its money with Ripley and Crawford counties.
The governor’s office can be reached by telephone, 317-232-4567; by mail, Office of the Governor, Indianapolis, IN 46204-2797; or by e-mail on a form at www.in.gov/gov/contact.html.
Although the public is unlikely to be able to talk to Daniels, his aides will log calls, e-mails and letters and share that information with him, Bond said.
“They definitely are not going to hear us if we don’t make any noise,” Bond said.
Someone suggested that residents of Switzerland and other affected counties have friends and relatives in other counties also join the writing campaign to show the widespread nature of the protest against what the state is trying to do. It also was suggested that legislators be contacted; Bond said the legislators pushing for taking money from the counties are the same ones who will be able to influence the bill in a House-Senate conference committee.
Bond said comments should be about the principle of getting a share of the money.
“What you don’t want to do... you can’t brag about all the great things we have done with it (casino money) because that just makes them (legislators from non-casino counties) jealous they didn’t have it in their counties,” Bond said.
Time is of the essence, he said. “We are out of business if this doesn’t work.”
This isn’t the first time that casino money that goes to counties has been eyed by the state.
A couple of sessions ago the General Assembly put a cap on how much money casino-host counties can receive, with the rest of it going to the state. That is costing counties $33 million a year, County Council member John Keeton said. “Sooner or later, if you have money it disappears,” he said.
This year’s drive isn’t likely to be the end of it, County Council member Steve Crabtree said. “I’m telling you, it’s coming,” he said. “This is not going to solve their problems up there (in Indianapolis). There’s going to be more.”
From the audience came a question: “Are we going to play our trump card?”
Bond said he expects that the General Assembly next year or the following year to change the law to take out the role of a casino-host county. “They can’t afford to have it in,” Bond said. “They are just going to rewrite the law.”
He said toes cannot be stepped on as part of the strategy. “You have to be careful,” he said.
Belterra opened in October 2000 east of Vevay, and its license expires this October. Work on the renewal will begin in June at the Indiana Gaming Commission, Jones said.
At the same time that Belterra’s license is expiring, so are Switzerland County’s agreements with counties that it shares gaming money with. The agreement with Jefferson County provides the money the county uses for road paving — about $600,000 a year — and money for economic development and historic preservation. Jefferson County officials decide how to spend the money that Switzerland County sends under terms of the agreement. Bond said Switzerland County will be negotiating new agreements with the counties later in the year.
The same Senate bill contains funding for a new Indianapolis Colts stadium in case another bill with the stadium funding doesn’t pass, Bond said. After the meeting, Crabtree said, “From everything I read, my opinion is this is Colts stadium money.”
If the bill in the Senate passes, Switzerland will have no money to send out to Jefferson and the other counties, Bond said. The Ripley County commissioners are writing a letter to protest the bill, he said.
The development agreements between casinos and their host counties have been around since the first casino was licensed in Indiana. “When they first passed the law for boats, they said you had to have development agreements,” Bond said. Lawrenceburg was the first one, and got a good deal, he said. As the Gaming Commission got more experience, the development agreements became less favorable to the host counties, he said. Belterra was the last casino licensed, and so the last one to have a development agreement with its host county. “We got the worst one in the state,” Bond said.
After the meeting, council member Kenny Griffin said, “Why should we even have the license? It wouldn’t bother me to tell them up there (in Indianapolis) we don’t want the boat if they are going to keep taking it (the money) away.”
County Auditor Jan Ramsey told the audience that Switzerland has tried to avoid using casino money for day-to-day operating expenses, spending it instead for “things that we wanted to improve the county with.”
But loss of it would hurt, she said.
“If they take that money this year, Switzerland County is in bad shape, really bad shape,” Ramsey said.
Loss of the casino money would put some things in financial peril because they were set up and continue to operate because of casino money, she said. “EMS (and) the YMCA couldn’t operate without casino money,” she said.
At the end of the meeting, Jones took a consensus of council members and concluded: Until the legislative session is over, the council will not deal with the road resurfacing plan for this year.
After the meeting Jones said, “We want to be in a position to support Belterra in their licensing, and Belterra is very important to our county. We are representatives of Switzerland County. We want what is best for Switzerland County, which hopefully is what is best for Belterra.”
Crabtree said after the meeting, “We finally are getting a chance to improve our county, and now they want to take it all away. We went out and we knocked on doors to get the vote” to approve letting a gambling boat dock in Switzerland County. No one then realized how lucrative Belterra would be, he said, and now that it’s known, the state wants it.
“We’ve done without forever down here,” he said.
Belterra Casino’s state license expires this year, and that could be just the hammer Switzerland County needs to stop the state’s raid on its treasury.
Now might not be the best time to play that card, though, Switzerland County Council president Mike Jones told the County Council and about 20 people who gathered Saturday morning to talk about a bill in the Senate that would take riverboat money from Switzerland and other counties such as Jefferson and send it to the state instead.
“We’ve been saving our powder a little bit,” Jones said when a man in the audience asked, “Why not say we don’t want it if money’s not there?”
Later in the meeting, Jones said, “Right now it’s the legislative process. We’re talking about the other things (options). ... We know what card we hold.”
He said county officials “have been spending a lot of time on it.”
For now, county attorney Jon Bond said, the focus needs to be on getting the General Assembly to drop the idea of taking money from counties, and time is short because the General Assembly is scheduled to adjourn at the end of the month.
He urged the public to call, e-mail and write to Gov. Mitch Daniels as soon as possible.
“The governor has the power to stop this all by himself,” said Bond, who is working with an Indianapolis lobbying firm of Lewis-Kappes. Later in the meeting he said, “We’ve got to keep the heat on the governor.”
Daniels said Thursday that he would prefer that the money not be taken from casino host counties like Switzerland and the counties they share some of the money with, like Jefferson. Switzerland County also shares its money with Ripley and Crawford counties.
The governor’s office can be reached by telephone, 317-232-4567; by mail, Office of the Governor, Indianapolis, IN 46204-2797; or by e-mail on a form at www.in.gov/gov/contact.html.
Although the public is unlikely to be able to talk to Daniels, his aides will log calls, e-mails and letters and share that information with him, Bond said.
“They definitely are not going to hear us if we don’t make any noise,” Bond said.
Someone suggested that residents of Switzerland and other affected counties have friends and relatives in other counties also join the writing campaign to show the widespread nature of the protest against what the state is trying to do. It also was suggested that legislators be contacted; Bond said the legislators pushing for taking money from the counties are the same ones who will be able to influence the bill in a House-Senate conference committee.
Bond said comments should be about the principle of getting a share of the money.
“What you don’t want to do... you can’t brag about all the great things we have done with it (casino money) because that just makes them (legislators from non-casino counties) jealous they didn’t have it in their counties,” Bond said.
Time is of the essence, he said. “We are out of business if this doesn’t work.”
This isn’t the first time that casino money that goes to counties has been eyed by the state.
A couple of sessions ago the General Assembly put a cap on how much money casino-host counties can receive, with the rest of it going to the state. That is costing counties $33 million a year, County Council member John Keeton said. “Sooner or later, if you have money it disappears,” he said.
This year’s drive isn’t likely to be the end of it, County Council member Steve Crabtree said. “I’m telling you, it’s coming,” he said. “This is not going to solve their problems up there (in Indianapolis). There’s going to be more.”
From the audience came a question: “Are we going to play our trump card?”
Bond said he expects that the General Assembly next year or the following year to change the law to take out the role of a casino-host county. “They can’t afford to have it in,” Bond said. “They are just going to rewrite the law.”
He said toes cannot be stepped on as part of the strategy. “You have to be careful,” he said.
Belterra opened in October 2000 east of Vevay, and its license expires this October. Work on the renewal will begin in June at the Indiana Gaming Commission, Jones said.
At the same time that Belterra’s license is expiring, so are Switzerland County’s agreements with counties that it shares gaming money with. The agreement with Jefferson County provides the money the county uses for road paving — about $600,000 a year — and money for economic development and historic preservation. Jefferson County officials decide how to spend the money that Switzerland County sends under terms of the agreement. Bond said Switzerland County will be negotiating new agreements with the counties later in the year.
The same Senate bill contains funding for a new Indianapolis Colts stadium in case another bill with the stadium funding doesn’t pass, Bond said. After the meeting, Crabtree said, “From everything I read, my opinion is this is Colts stadium money.”
If the bill in the Senate passes, Switzerland will have no money to send out to Jefferson and the other counties, Bond said. The Ripley County commissioners are writing a letter to protest the bill, he said.
The development agreements between casinos and their host counties have been around since the first casino was licensed in Indiana. “When they first passed the law for boats, they said you had to have development agreements,” Bond said. Lawrenceburg was the first one, and got a good deal, he said. As the Gaming Commission got more experience, the development agreements became less favorable to the host counties, he said. Belterra was the last casino licensed, and so the last one to have a development agreement with its host county. “We got the worst one in the state,” Bond said.
After the meeting, council member Kenny Griffin said, “Why should we even have the license? It wouldn’t bother me to tell them up there (in Indianapolis) we don’t want the boat if they are going to keep taking it (the money) away.”
County Auditor Jan Ramsey told the audience that Switzerland has tried to avoid using casino money for day-to-day operating expenses, spending it instead for “things that we wanted to improve the county with.”
But loss of it would hurt, she said.
“If they take that money this year, Switzerland County is in bad shape, really bad shape,” Ramsey said.
Loss of the casino money would put some things in financial peril because they were set up and continue to operate because of casino money, she said. “EMS (and) the YMCA couldn’t operate without casino money,” she said.
At the end of the meeting, Jones took a consensus of council members and concluded: Until the legislative session is over, the council will not deal with the road resurfacing plan for this year.
After the meeting Jones said, “We want to be in a position to support Belterra in their licensing, and Belterra is very important to our county. We are representatives of Switzerland County. We want what is best for Switzerland County, which hopefully is what is best for Belterra.”
Crabtree said after the meeting, “We finally are getting a chance to improve our county, and now they want to take it all away. We went out and we knocked on doors to get the vote” to approve letting a gambling boat dock in Switzerland County. No one then realized how lucrative Belterra would be, he said, and now that it’s known, the state wants it.
“We’ve done without forever down here,” he said.
