So much for our tax relief I guess

**Dredly** · February 19th, 2009, 10:01 AM

http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbc.../NEWS/90219006

Monroe County nets $6 million from local gambling proceeds
Another $6 million will go to surrounding counties

STROUDSBURG — Gambling proceeds from Mount Airy Resort and Casino will fund more than $6 million in Monroe County economic development projects this year, but the announcement also rekindled local resentments over inequities in how slots money is distributed.

The Pocono Mountains Regional Airport in Coolbaugh Township will receive $1.05 million to lengthen runways and another $1.05 million will go to develop the East Stroudsburg University Research and Technology Park in Smithfield Township.
The Monroe County Housing Authority will receive $619,500 towards the long-planned Skyline Heights public housing project along Business Route 209 in Smithfield Township.

Other big winners are Women’s Resources of Monroe County, which got a $512,861 grant for transitional housing; and the Sherman Theater in Stroudsburg, which received $420,000 for a non-profit board’s campaign to refurbish the historic movie house and promote it as a venue for the arts.

The state law that established slot machines at resorts, race tracks and other venues calls for 2 percent of all proceeds to be redistributed to host counties each year for local development. But Monroe County, home to Mount Airy, is the only county required to share a portion of the state payout — half of it — with surrounding counties.

Though $6 million from 2008 proceeds goes to Monroe, another $6 million is directed to projects in contiguous counties.

A $1 million grant goes to Pike County to develop a public library headquarters and the Dorothy E. Warner Community Center in Milford. Another $1 million will be used by the Wayne County Commissioners to upgrade its 911/emergency operations center. Carbon County commissioners will receive $631,958 for its Packerton Business Park.

Perhaps most upsetting to the Monroe County commissioners is that Luzerne County is eligible to compete for grants from Mount Airy slots. Luzerne receives additional slots money from machines placed at a horse track there — money Luzerne doesn’t have to share with any other county. White Haven Borough in Luzerne County received $525,000 in Mount Airy slots proceeds for an engine house.

“We didn’t agree with it due to the fact Luzerne County has its own facility at Pocono Downs,” Monroe County Commissioners Chairwoman Suzanne McCool said Wednesday. “We feel we were unfairly funded by the legislature. I felt it all should go to Monroe County and it should have been the 10 projects commissioners spent time talking to all our legislators about.”

Commissioner Donna Asure noted all proposals using Mount Airy slots funds had to be submitted directly to the state Department of Community and Economic Development for approval. Some counties with slots parlors received direct lump sum payments that county governments could spend as they see fit, she said.

“Some counties got monies right into their general funds to allow them to make the intelligent decisions,” said Asure. “Obviously they didn’t treat Monroe County the same way. I find it frustrating the people elected me to represent them and we’re just butting our heads against the wall.”

DCED spokeswoman Janel Miller said her agency impartially funded projects based on existing law. She said there were 70 applications for the Mount Airy funds, with 29 projects receiving money.

“It’s the law you would have to change,” Miller said. “We met with the commissioners to fund as many of their needs as we could, that met the keystone principles and the established guidelines.”

Miller said Washington County, south of Pittsburgh, and a local economic development agency there got lump sum payments for a local slots parlor because that’s how the legislature wrote the law governing that facility.

The state slots law says any fifth class county — those with populations of at least 150,000 — has to share slots revenues with contiguous counties, but larger host counties get to keep the entire allocation. Monroe County is the only Pennsylvania fifth class county with a slots venue.

Monroe already surpassed the 150,000 threshold this decade due to rapid population growth, and will officially become a fourth class county after the next federal census in 2010. But the slots law “grandfathers” Monroe as a county that must always share its slots money, even if it is no longer classified as a smaller county.

Though one of the county commissioners’ top four proposals — money to connect the Sanofi Pasteur vaccine plant and other parts of Pocono Township to a regional sewage treatment facility in Stroudsburg — received no slots money, McCool said she was told the work will be funded through other state grants.

Other priorities received slots funding, but not as much as the commissioners sought. A $2 million request to expand a runway at Pocono Mountains Regional Airport to 5,000 feet — the minimum length required by major insurance carriers and federal guidelines for corporate jets — was reduced to $1.05 million. It’s only enough money to extend the runway to 4,500 feet, county officials say.

Miller said DCED expects to provide the rest of the requested runway money next year.

“So long as revenues are there, $1.05 million will be available next year, too,” she said.

Both Asure and McCool suggested the DCED made funding decisions that favored projects in the districts of locally elected state officials. McCool said she brought up that contention in a conversation last week with DCED Acting Secretary George Cornelius.

“I did bring up that maybe some of the projects were influenced by legislators who were good at lobbying,” said McCool. “He (Cornelius) said, ‘No, no, no. It’s based on merit.’”

Said Miller: “We truly take great exception to those comments. We did the best we could with the funding we had available.”

So not only do we not get the property tax reduction we were promised. we get NOTHING from the money and we lose 1/2 of it to surrounding counties.

1 mil to extend a runway for an airport NO ONE uses?

1 mil to help ESU build new office space even though there is shitloads available already

620K for a public housing project (hooray! I'm sure that won't turn into a ghetto right?)

420K to fix up the Sherman Theatre? Anyone ever actually go there?

once again THANK YOU GOV'T! Maybe if we had a Monroe County representative this wouldn't happen?

**kevco** · February 19th, 2009, 10:12 AM

once again THANK YOU GOV'T! Maybe if we had a Monroe County representative this wouldn't happen?[/QUOTE]

I nominate you!

**dc dalton** · February 19th, 2009, 05:13 PM

So my question is this, WTF happened to the supposed School tax rebates we were supposed to get from the casino proceeds?

GD lying pieces of shit politicians screwing us again!