Pike readies a plan to use gaming money

Amount could be $1.1 million yearly

tomkane By TOM KANE

MILFORD, PA — Slot machines are coming to Mt. Airy Lodge and Pike County wants to be ready with a plan for spending the money that will come to the county from the gaming project.

It is expected that an agreement will be worked out by the state and managed by the state’s Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED), giving the six counties that are contiguous to the Mt. Airy site one percent of the Gross Terminal Revenue (GTR).

“No money has yet flowed because the Mt. Airy site hasn’t been built yet, but when it is, we are expecting to share the one percent,” said Pike County Commissioner Rich Caridi.

The estimated gross amount that will be created by the Mt. Airy slot machines is $313,203,047 a year. The amount coming to the county could reach $1.1 million a year.

The six contiguous counties are Monroe, Pike, Wayne, Carbon, Northampton, Luzerne and Lackawanna.

“Since two of those counties¾Luzerne and Lackawanna¾are also contiguous to the slot machines at Pocono Downs Raceway, they would be double dipping from the revenue of both sites, which seems unfair,” Caridi said. He is of the opinion that only four of the contiguous counties will share in the Mt. Airy GTR.

“We won’t know, of course, until Mt. Airy is open and the state decides who gets what,” he said.

The commissioners have been talking to the Delta Development Group of Harrisburg, a respected company that handles government funding, and specializes in funding from gaming, about developing a strategy to use the funds to the county’s best benefit, Caridi said. So far, however, the county has not formed an agreement with the Delta Group.

“Counties should have a game plan about how they wish to spend the revenue coming to them from gaming,” Caridi said. “We have to be ahead of the game and ready when the funding happens.”

“The DCED does not have any restrictions on how the money can be spent that we know of,” he said. Pike County must on its own identify projects that it wishes to be funded.

Caridi listed some of the county programs that could benefit from the gaming money.

“The county needs to create more jobs and improve economic development,” he said. “We are interested in improving and marketing the business park near Lords Valley. We need money to develop the park, especially the sewer treatment plant.”

Other priorities include a training center for the county’s fire companies, an improved senior center and senior services and an expanded educational program at Northampton Community College in Shohola.

“We need to get to the table to develop a long-range plan,” Caridi said. “We’re looking to see if the Delta Development Group can help us do that.”

Wayne County, another contiguous county, would stand to get the same amount as Pike.