A key vote next Monday could decide whether or not a nearly $49.5 million dollar amphitheater goes up along the western shoreline of Onondaga Lake. The County Ways and Means Committee had a lengthy debate over the projected revenue streams on Monday and narrowly passed $49.5 million dollars in bonds to cover construction costs.
The County is banking on estimated gaming tax revenue from Turning Stone Casino collected and shared by the State to pay off the project’s debt. Legislator Kevin Holmquist is not convinced that taxpayers will be “off the hook.” He posed this warning for fellow lawmakers to mull things over.
“Before this Legislature commits ourselves to 30 years of bonding that we have no idea where the revenue is gonna come from… with the backdrop of casinos around the country closing, including in Atlantic City.”
More casinos could be built in Albany and closer to Turning Stone in Seneca County, and that could also mean more competition. However, County Legislature Chair Ryan McMahon says the Oneida Nation already took that into consideration when drawing up their non-compete boundaries.
“I think that has hold some weight when they look at their own numbers and where they get it. The other thing, as far as casinos go, you’re correct. In Atlantic City they’re struggling. The Oneida Nation doesn’t pay taxes. They don’t have a lot of the regulatory issues that the Atlantic City Casinos do. Essentially, this is the only tax that they’re now paying.”
Legislator Casey Jordan feels the performances or events at the proposed amphitheater would lead to residents annoyed by the volume.
"You may have people (who) are going to be disturbed by that. We’re not talking about a State Fair situation where it’s for 10 days, we’re talking about every summer, for the entire summer... for 30 or more years where these people are going to have to deal with the noise.”
Jordan says he also wonders about the ripple effect these kind of economic development and government projects have on taxpayers. The Ways and Means Committee also passed to accept $30 million dollars in State grant money to further develop the western shore of the Lake and for projects in the Village of Solvay. Between those improvements and the amphitheater, spending between the two projects would hit nearly $100 million dollars.
