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Racino communities meet for summit in Columbus on $500K racino payment
By ROBERT CONNELLY
COLUMBUS
The racino host communities are now on the same page.
That’s the reading from Austintown Trustee Ken Carano and Ohio Senate Minority Leader Joe Schiavoni of Boardman, D-33rd.
The six Ohio communities met Tuesday in Columbus to discuss the $500,000 annual racino payment that was promised to them through a memorandum of understanding in the initial racino bill that brought the facilities to the Buckeye State.
Those payments were expected to be paid to each of the six communities by Dec. 31, 2014, but never materialized because the state and racino operators never came to an agreement on how the payments would be funded.
There was representation at the meeting from all six racino communities: Anderson Township, near Cincinnati; Turtlecreek Township, between Cincinnati and Dayton; city of Dayton; village of North Randall, near Cleveland; village of Northfield, near Cleveland; and Austintown Township.
“All six of the communities understand each other and really understand the problem,” Carano said of Tuesday’s summit. “We all were working individually, and we got together and got everyone’s point of view. The bottom line is each of the communities expected the money.”
Moving forward, the communities are seeking a meeting with Republican Gov. John Kasich, who line-vetoed an amendment in late December that would have brought $500,000 to Dayton and to Austintown. Those communities had Penn National Gaming Inc. relocate tracks from other parts of the state and open in 2014. But that relocation came at a cost: Penn National will pay $150 million over 10 years for the two moves.
The December amendment would have been for three years, with $250,000 coming from the operator, Penn National, and $250,000 coming from the track-relocation cost that the company already is paying into. Kasich line-vetoed it because it did not include all six racino communities and included funds coming from the state.
“There weren’t negotiations. There was simply a meeting where Penn National said we have paid enough,” Carano said of the promised “good-faith negotiations” in the original racino legislation on the payment. “We are at a crucial point, and we all agreed it’s time to be a little more aggressive.”
A representative from the governor’s office attended the Tuesday meeting along with state representatives and senators of racino communities.
Kasich’s representative “kind of upset me because he said we’re waiting for the Legislature to do something. That’s completely inaccurate because we sent something to the governor and he line-vetoed our idea,” Schiavoni said.
Schiavoni added that the Kasich representative gave three parameters for a payment: that it include all six communities, no state funds are used and it is constitutional.
“That’s a little bit frustrating. We need to get a little bit more than [those parameters]. We need to get the language from the governor’s office that he would sign,” Schiavoni explained.
“We remain committed to our pledge to work in good faith to provide nonstate revenues to these local communities,” said Jim Lynch, of Kasich’s office, in an email late Tuesday.
In terms of conversations involving the payment, it’s been relatively quiet since the December line veto. But that will change as state Rep. Michele Lepore-Hagan of Youngstown, D-58th, plans to offer an amendment in the House. “We [will] hold the governor accountable for what he said he would do. ... I think the time line is soon because it has to be in the budget, and that deadline is June 30,” she said.
Schiavoni, meanwhile, said he is going to work with the president of the Ohio Senate on the matter and continue to work with fellow state Sen. Bill Beagle of Tipp City, R-5th. Carano plans to send a letter to Kasich that explains the viewpoint from all six racino communities.
“One way or another, I think the easiest way is to get it added as an amendment to the state budget,” Schiavoni said. “Or if we can get a piece of stand-alone legislation and fast-track it through one of the chambers. I’m just trying to get some guidance so we don’t fast-track it and it gets vetoed by the governor.”
Ohio has seven racinos, but Scioto Downs Racino in the Columbus area, the first to open in 2012, wasn’t part of the negotiations because that county receives a casino host fee.