County lawyer negotiates new casino contract

Tribe agrees to additional payments

By FRITZ MAYER

MONTICELLO, NY — County attorney Sam Yasgur has negotiated terms for a new contract with the St. Regis Mohawks for impact fees and other payments to come, if the tribe’s casino at Monticello Raceway becomes a reality. Yasgur told Sullivan County lawmakers on Thursday that a new contract was necessary because the previous contract was specific to the tribes’ plans the build a casino at Kutshers on Anawana Lake Road in Thompson, not at the raceway.

The new contract, like the old one, calls for the tribe to pay the county $15 million a year in impact fees, which the county will then distribute to municipalities affected by the impacts of the casino. However, the new contract specifically excludes a payment to the Village of Monticello and the Monticello Joint Fire District. The tribe will work out separate agreements with those two entities. Yasgur explained that this would, in fact, increase the cost of the impact fees being paid by the St. Regis Mohawks.

Yasgur said that his office had tried to get annual increases in impact fees tied to rises in the cost of living index, but was unable to achieve that. The tribe, however, did agree that if the cost of living index rises by five percent or more during the seven-year life of the contract, the contract would be renegotiated.

Taxes

Yasgur said that, while the tribe’s representatives were unyielding in maintaining their status as a sovereign nation, they did give some concessions on room and sales taxes. Unlike the previous contract, this one deals only with a casino and not with a hotel attached to the project. The contract stipulates, however, that if the tribe does build a hotel at the raceway, it will pay room taxes to the county.

In the area of sales tax, the tribe’s representatives have agreed to allow the state to collect sales tax. The state would send the county’s share to the county as it does with all sales tax. The full tribe, however, must vote on this provision. Should the tribe reject this provision, the tribe’s representatives guaranteed that the tribe would collect the county’s portion of the sales tax and remit it directly to the county on a monthly basis.

Anti-casino activist Dick Riseling said that even with the additional payments, the harm brought to the community by a casino would far outweigh any benefits. Other Casino Free Sullivan County members continue to point to studies that show a rise in suicides and bankruptcies in communities with casinos, to argue that no amount of impact money can adequately compensate a host community.

Is it really coming?

With Sullivan County casino news going up, down, back and forth for the past seven years, many observers are skeptical that a full blown Las Vegas-style gaming casino will open in the county, but supporters believe the reality is closer than ever.

Here are some significant and coming developments.

In April, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) asked the tribe to provide additional information about the environmental assessment of the project. The tribe is expected to forward that information to the BIA in the next week or so. Once that happens, the BIA will decide whether to issue a “Finding of No Significant Impact” on its assessment of the project.

In late May, Governor George Pataki sent a letter to the BIA for the first time signaling his full support for the project. If the BIA finds in favor of the casino, Pataki must then declare his agreement with a BIA assessment made in April 2000 that the casino was in the best interest of the tribe, and had no unmitigated significant impacts on the surrounding communities.

After that, the matter would be back in Washington, where the BIA would issue a final land-trust agreement with the tribe allowing construction to begin, which supporters say may happen before the end of the year.