River towns fight 5-casino plan

Lumberland would try one casino, others are hesitant

By CHARLIE BUTERBAUGH

SULLIVAN COUNTY, NY — As the new year begins for local government, another river valley township will put up resistance to Governor Pataki’s five-casino plan for Sullivan County.

Early in December the governor announced his completion of land settlement deals with five Indian tribes instead of three, and as county legislators consider the expansion, town boards along the Upper Delaware are growing wary of Pataki’s plan.

By allowing five tribes to run casinos in Sullivan, Pataki would lower or dismiss debts the state owes to the tribes. One example of such a debt is the land claim judgment awarded to the Cayuga Indian Nation of New York. The state was ordered by a federal judge to pay $247.9 million because New York illegally purchased 64,000 acres of reservation land in Cayuga and Seneca counties over 200 years ago.

With Indian casinos, Pataki would also be able to correct fiscal debts, ostensibly.

But some feel that settling state debts and Indian land claims on the backs of Sullivan County is unfair.

Cochecton Supervisor Sal Indelicato said, “I’m not opposed to gambling. What I am opposed to is Indian gambling. My view is that we’re not on a level playing field.

“I wasn’t here in the 1700s when the Indians were done out of their land. I don’t believe Sullivan County should be the sole source of bailing the state out of the debt it owes the Indians,” he said.

Following discussion on December 29, the Cochecton Town Board decided to draft two resolutions concerning casinos. On Monday, Councilman Larry Richardson said the first would carry opposition to any Indian-run casino in the county.

“The second would acknowledge the fact that the county looks legally committed to supporting three [Indian-run] casinos,” Richardson said. It would oppose any more than three in Sullivan. The board is expected to discuss each resolution and act on one at its January 12 meeting, which begins at 7:30 p.m.

Indelicato said he would support a bill to amend New York’s constitution and permit non-Indian gambling in New York. Such a bill would require approval from two sessions of the state legislature as well as a public referendum.

The Delaware Town Board passed a resolution last month opposing any more than two Indian casinos in the county.

Sullivan County Legislative Chair Chris Cunningham said the county would give weight to the townships’ positions. Both Cochecton and Delaware are within of Cunningham’s district.

“Any time a township takes a position pro or con, obviously the legislature takes that very seriously,” Cunningham said.

“Elected officials expect us to consider their positions. It’s something we’re going to be paying attention to.”

Cunningham said the county legislature’s consideration of Pataki’s five-casino plan is “ongoing.”

What about other Upper Delaware towns?

When The River Reporter reached Town of Lumberland Supervisor John LiGreci, he had just received a call from a member of an anti-casino group, who asked if Lumberland would consider passing a resolution against the governor’s proposal.

“I told them ‘no’,” LiGreci said.

He said his town board realizes the financial benefits casinos would bring to Sullivan County’s budget and local property taxes.

“Our board is going to pass a resolution in support of casinos,” LiGreci said.

Town of Highland Supervisor Allan Schadt said he had not yet asked his board about a casino resolution, but added that his concerns center on the decades after construction of casinos, when population in the river valley would likely grow as gaming employees begin to branch out from the Town of Thompson, where three casinos are currently proposed.

Schadt also said the mere rumor of casinos has increased the tax base in his town considerably.

Town of Tusten Supervisor Ben Johnson said, “If we draft any resolution it will be after the board gets more informed.” Cunningham is scheduled to attend Tusten’s town board meeting on Monday, January 10. The meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. in Narrowsburg.

Johnson said he is concerned about five casinos, a number he described as “rather large.

“Can we sustain five casinos? What’s the impact? We are concerned about that,” he said. Town of Fremont Supervisor Jim Greier said that while his town board has not considered a resolution, none of its members have ever been in favor of casinos in the county.

“We’d like to leave our town a rural town, the way it has been,” Greier said.