Casino decision delayed until after elections
Wednesday, August 18, 2004 7:22 AM PDT
By Amy M. E. Fischer
Printable version
E-mail this articleWanting to see whether state gambling laws change in November's election, the Kelso City Council delayed making a decision Tuesday on whether to lower Cleopatra's Wild Grizzly Casino's gambling taxes.
Until then, the council isn't willing to reduce the Grizzly's taxes because the money has already been figured into this year's city budget, Mayor Don Gregory said.
A Tim Eyman-sponsored voter initiative on November's ballot would allow electronic slot machines outside of tribal casinos. The state would tax the earnings and use the money to lower state property taxes.
Wild Grizzly owner Eric Nelson said in May that if Initiative 892 passes, his casino's revenues would triple and he would be happy to revert to the 10 percent flat cardroom tax he's paying now. He is asking for a 4 percent tax rate or a tiered tax rate based on the casino's revenue.
"None of us are going to know how it's going to feed out if the slots are (allowed)," council member Kathleen Johnson said. "If this happened, that money will come directly to the state. ... That money won't impact us positively."
Wild Grizzly general manager Jenaro Rodriguez speculated that if voters pass Initiative 892, the measure probably wouldn't go into effect until at least 2006 because the tribal casinos would try to block it in court.
Meanwhile, the casino is struggling to break even, Rodriguez said. In 2003, the casino paid Kelso $183,000 in taxes and lost $157,000, he said.
"We haven't made money in the last few years," he said.
"I feel for you, but at this point I'm not willing to go down," Councilman Jack Koelker said.
Mayor Don Gregory had less sympathy for Wild Grizzly's plea.
"I used to be in the cardroom business, and at that time we paid 20 percent. I was darn glad to do it," said Gregory.
Although Rodriguez said the casino wasn't planning to close if the city didn't provide tax relief, he added that "you can only go so long before it's not worth the effort."
"We're just looking for consideration, that's all," he said outside the meeting. "You don't want to wait until the monster's on top of you before you do something about it."
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