Wednesday, 19 December 2007 02:38

Supes and Sherriff Plead For State Casino Money

This year, the state tribal gaming fund looks to be anything but a jackpot for city and county governments. Amador County Board of Supervisors will join Sheriff Martin Ryan in writing letters to State Senator Dave Cox protesting Governor Schwarzenegger’s appropriation of tribal gaming monies that are due to local governments. The governor wants to use the casino money to ease the state’s budget crunc. In his letter, presented to the supervisors on Tuesday, Sheriff Ryan says the casino Special Distribution Funds are a partial but important mitigation for impacts caused by the presence of a casino in our midst.

Over the past 3 years, Amador County government has received amounts from 556 thousand dollars up to 928 thousand dollars in SDF funding. That money went to probation, public works, city police, the sheriff’s office, the county jail, and fire services to help pay for casino-related problems. In his letter, Ryan says that if the governor fails to pass on the SDF funding to counties, as the program intended, the loss will “significantly impact the ability of our public safety agencies and thereby jeopardize their response to the needs of county citizens who had no voice in the establishment of the casino in the first place.” With a round of “here, here!” from the supervisors, Supervisor Forster said, “We suffer the impacts, we should get the mitigation money.” Both the sheriff and the supervisors are asking Senator Cox for his vigorous support in restoring the Special Distribution Funds to local governments.