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State reps lead effort for racino payments
By ROBERT CONNELLY
COLUMBUS
State Rep. Michele Lepore- Hagan of Youngstown, D-58th, has introduced a budget-amendment proposal for $500,000 payments to racino communities.
State Rep. Paul Zeltwanger of Mason, R-54th, introduced the same amendment on the Republican side Friday. Both legislators are in their first terms, and the proposals were announced by Lepore-Hagan’s office.
The payment was promised to six racino host communities on a yearly basis in a memorandum of understanding in the initial racinos legislation in 2012. The funds were due by Dec. 31, 2014, but an amendment was line-vetoed by Republican Gov. John Kasich in December.
That action led the talks to continue on who would pay the amount, for how long and who would qualify.
Kasich’s office has said the payment should be for all six communities and not involve any state funds.
The budget-amendment proposal, to be discussed during ongoing state budget talks, would have the $500,000 payment go to six racino host communities for six years from the Casino Operator Settlement Fund, or the track-relocation fund. That fund is what Penn National Gaming Inc. will pay $150 million into over a 10-year period for moving Hollywood Gaming tracks to Dayton and Austintown, which opened in 2014. Penn National spokesman Bob Tenenbaum said the company has paid $15 million into that fund so far and it pays about $9.5 million into it every six months.
“We remain committed to our pledge to work in good faith to provide nonstate revenues to these local communities, as this is a responsibility of the operators,” said Jim Lynch, a spokesman for Kasich.
“We have stated pretty consistently that we do not begrudge the host communities for this money, and we have always felt that we believe [the payment] should come from the track-relocation fund,” said Tenenbaum.
“I am pleased to hear that she is pushing the issue, and I think Austintown would absolutely welcome the passage of that bill,” said Ken Carano, an Austintown trustee.
“We did very strongly discuss the issue” at a racino summit Tuesday “that a lot of the host communities were not actively participating with their legislators to put more pressure to get the money for each of us,” Carano said of Zeltwanger’s introducing the bill on the Republican side.
“I’m optimistic given the fact that we have bipartisan support on this, although there really is no guarantee,” Lepore-Hagan said Friday.
Zeltwanger sent a legislative aide to Tuesday’s racino summit and said he was briefed on the situation by a Turtlecreek Township trustee. Turtlecreek Township is home to Miami Valley Gaming.
He said that payment “needs to be defined, determined. The townships rely on that and obviously had planned for that money, budgeted it in. I’m a business guy by background. ... When you document things and put dates, things got to get done.”
He also noted the bipartisan nature of securing the funds for the six racino communities. The state’s first racino to open, Scioto Downs Racino in Columbus, does not qualify for the racino payment since that county receives a host fee from Hollywood Casino Columbus.
Ohio Senate Minority Leader Joe Schiavoni of Boardman, D-33rd, said he has been in talks with fellow Sens. Shannon Jones of Springboro, R-7th, Bill Beagle of Tipp City, R-5th, and Kenny Yuko of Richmond Heights, D-25th.
“All the senators are waiting to see what happens with the House piece before we make a move,” Schiavoni said.