Gamblers at the Sands Casino in Bethlehem
Posted by: Noel Jones
There is an important new development in the papers that we need to keep our eye on--it looks like the Sands Casino is going to get approved for 250 table games, and as the three main cities of the Lehigh Valley will be splitting a share of the revenues, Easton is due to get $450K in new revenue. Thankfully Mayor Panto was on top of this and didn't let this opportunity slide when we need creative revenue streams so badly. The question for us to consider here, is how and where will this money be spent?
Morning Call Article by John L. Micek on Casino To Get Table Games, Easton To Get $450K in Revenue
Express Times Article by Prescious Petty on Easton To Get Casino Revenue
How do you think this money should be spent? What are our priorities as a city in an economic downturn? Post your ideas here!
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3 comments:
Unfortunately, with Easton's long neglected utility infrastructure and massive unfunded pension liabilities for unionized city workers 450K is a drop in the bucket.
Where do you start? I think the best use would be to try to invest in growing tax revenues that are not coming from the oft taxed residents.
The Easton portion of the Earned Income Tax just went up 150%! Where's the outrage? Does anyone even care?
Good point, Roger. Taxation rarely gets hashed out on this blog, even when I've posted about it, which leads me to think the readership is pretty liberal so far--I would love to get a good debate going. Paying higher taxes is painful to everyone, liberals and conservatives alike.
So let's open it up, because it is a great question that doesn't often get debated civilly. This is what I like to call Ye Old Tax Cut vs. Programs Debate:
Where would readers rather see the new revenue spent? Providing needed services, creating new programs, or reducing taxes for citizens and their families who are struggling to make ends meet in the current economy?
I agree with Roger, the unions are killing the city,they have no idea what its like in the public sector. I am in a union and my wages and benefits have been cut so that our members can keep working. City unions wnat more and more. And most don't even live in the city anymore. They come to work, collect our tax money and go to other communities to spend it.
It is great that the mayor was on top of this money because the city should have been there when this issue first came up. Imagine how much we would be getting if we were getting our share of the slots.
My say is that this is new money but it should be used to keep our taxes down. By the way, i read that our taxes are not going up this year - first time I can remember. Thank you.
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