SALAMANCA — Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office contacted Salamanca Mayor Michael “Smitty” Smith in September to ask how much Seneca casino money the city had expected, but not received, over the past 18 months.
Smith’s reply was simple: $9 million.
The Seneca Nation of Indians stopped making casino payments to the state in 2016. The Senecas’ interpretation of the gaming compact was that the casino revenue sharing with the state was not addressed in the extension of the compact for another seven years.
The state and Senecas will meet with a three-member arbitration panel in mid-December to try and iron out the disagreement.
The next question to Smith from the governor’s regional representative, Lori Cornell, was when did the city’s budget year begin?
The city’s fiscal year begins in March, he replied.
Cornell said the governor intended to include funding in the state budget if the arbitration goes against the state.
“They called the same afternoon as the announcement in Niagara Falls,” Smith told the Olean Times Herald on Thursday.
Niagara Falls, which used all of its $12.3 million in casino money from Seneca Niagara Casino for operating revenue, found itself with a giant hole in its budget.
The city of Buffalo has also included $17 million in its 2019 budget as revenue from the Buffalo Creek Casino.
“We’re not in the same financial difficulty as Niagara Falls,” Smith said. “We just had an audit report last month. We’re well over two budget years away from any financial repercussions.” After that, Smith said, “We’d have to tighten the purse strings.”
Several years ago, the Senecas withheld casino payments from the state because they claimed the state was not living up to the exclusivity clause in the compact.
Salamanca, which counted on the casino money for a large portion of its budget, was forced to lay off more than 40 city employees, including many from the police and fire departments.
Racetrack casinos in Hamburg, Batavia and Canandaigua were cutting into the Seneca casinos take, Seneca officials charged. The state forced the racetracks to remove the word casino from their signs and advertising. They also settled with the Seneca Nation for less than the 20 percent share of slot machine revenue from their casinos.
State officials commented on the city trimming expenses, Smith said. “We trust the governor will be there for us.”
In addition to the $6 million a year the city received from the state — about 25 percent of the 20 percent share of slot machine revenue — the Salamanca City Central School District and Cattaraugus County each received a share of revenues from the Seneca Allegany Casino.
Cattaraugus County Administrator Jack Searles said Thursday the governor’s office has not contacted the county about the casino funds each received as a means of overcoming the loss of property taxes from Senecas buying property in the city of Salamanca, most of which lies in the Allegany Territory.
“I’m not putting anything in the budget for casinos,” Searles said. “We did not budget for the casino money in the 2018 budget.”
The county had received a little over $1 million for the past several years, almost all of which went to cover the property tax losses from Senecas buying property in Salamanca.
There was also some funding for direct expenses — what was left over went to a special economic development fund.
Searles was unaware of the governor’s assurances to Salamanca over the casino money.
“That’s good to hear,” he said, adding he would be calling the governor’s office to inquire whether the county and school district will receive money from the state equal to the casino cash if the arbitration ruling goes against the state.
(This article originally appeared in the Oct. 18 edition of The Salamanca Press. Contact reporter Rick Miller at rmiller@oleantimesherald.com)
