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[forwarded by Pat Morris. Thanks...]

Thu, 27 Jan 2000
http://projo.com/report/pjb/stories/03099782.htm

Officials get mixed messages on casino tour

During an independent investigation of the Connecticut casinos, West
Warwick officials learn that neither Ledyard nor Montville get much of a
tax benefit from the profitable entities.

By ELLEN LIBERMAN
Journal Staff Writer

LEDYARD, Conn. -- The West Warwick Town Council hit the back
roads of Connecticut yesterday in search of a snapshot of life with a
casino. What they found in meetings with Ledyard and Montville
officials was a portrait in black and white.

In Ledyard -- still locked in a battle with the Mashantucket Pequots
over the impact of the massive Foxwoods Resort Casino -- the picture
was bleak. In Montville, host to the Mohegan Sun casino, the image
was more benign.

Town Councilman Geoffrey Rousselle heard the tale of two towns
and two casinos and concluded that the difference was in "the
relationship between the tribe and the city."

"If you have a good working relationship from the beginning, it can
work out well," he said.

Yesterday marked the beginning of the West Warwick council's
independent investigation of the Narragansett Indian tribe's
$250-million casino proposal, to be built on 60 acres of mostly
residential land off James P. Murphy Industrial Highway.

For nearly seven hours, the five-member Town Council toured
the rolling Connecticut countryside dotted with picturesque
clapboard colonials, and talked with town officials about the
difficulties of governing when your biggest business is a sovereign
nation. The fact-finding mission ended with an Italian dinner and
a tour of the Mohegan Sun casino.

The meat of the trip was in the separate meetings with Ledyard
Town Councilwoman Sharon Wadecki and Montville Mayor Howard
R. Beetham Jr. The West Warwick Town Council, accompanied by
Town Manager Wolfgang Bauer, Town Clerk David Clayton and
Town Solicitor Susan McGuirl, grilled Connecticut officials about
the casinos' effect on tax rates, police and emergency services,
small business, crime and the social fabric of their towns.

They learned that neither Ledyard nor Montville got much of any tax
benefit from the hugely profitable casinos in their midst. The 1990
Gaming Compact, which set out the revenue agreement between
the state, the Pequots, and eventually the Mohegans, poured 25
percent of the gross slot revenues into state coffers, but did little to
compensate the host communities for the headaches of extra traffic
and crime.

Ledyard, for example, was forced to replace a local bridge and
undertake other expensive road repair projects, after the explosion
in casino traffic accelerated their deterioration. Those extra costs
and the strain on the town's police force and zoning enforcement
officers were outlined in a 1998 report the town prepared for the
National Gambling Impact Study Commission.

"Even with enough money, I still don't think that gambling is a positive
impact on the town," Wadecki said. "It brings problems."

Beetham acknowledged Ledyard's contentious relationship with
Foxwoods.

"If we weren't as civilized as we are today, you'd have cowboy and
Indian wars over there," he said.

But Montville has had a different relationship with the Mohegans.
The town receives about $300,000 in casino revenues, plus a
separate $500,000 annual payment the Mohegans agreed to pay
in lieu of taxes. The extra money has offset the extra demand on
services.

"We're just about at the break- even point," Beetham said.

In some respects, West Warwick is destined to have a very different
experience from its neighbors to the west. The Narragansetts would
be building their 250,000-square-foot facility on private land. The
Pequots and the Mohegan tribe have built their casinos on tribal
lands, free of municipal and state regulations.

Still, Town Council members found something in the opposing
views.

Town Councilwoman Jeanne-Marie DiMasi said she was
disappointed in Wadecki's perspective.

"She didn't give a good outlook," DiMasi said. "When we went to
Montville -- this is what we wanted to hear. It's not all negatives.
It's not like doom and gloom."
 

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