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Blanco snubs N.O. lawmakers on retrieving casino money
Governor tells them to work within budget
Friday, June 10, 2005
By Robert Travis Scott
Capital bureau
BATON ROUGE -- Gov. Kathleen Blanco rebuffed the House delegation from New Orleans this week when members asked her to intervene on the state's refusal to cough up millions of casino tax dollars owed to the city for support services.

The House members met with Blanco on Wednesday evening to request her help with the budget bills now in the Legislature to ensure that New Orleans gets its share of taxes from Harrah's New Orleans Casino, as provided in the state's contract with the gambling hall.

The state, which collects the Harrah's taxes, owes the city $3.6 million this year and is about $9 million in arrears, city officials say. The money is supposed to defray the extra expenses of police, fire and sanitation services that came with the casino -- which the city says amount to $4.1 million a year. None of the state's pending budget bills currently contains an appropriation needed to pay the city.

Blanco told the representatives to take their request to the senators now reviewing the state budget bills.

The meeting Wednesday marked a new and fractious chapter in Blanco's tenuous relationship with the New Orleans representatives, who are opposing the governor's plan to raise local hotel and auto-rental taxes to help pay the state's financial obligations to the New Orleans Saints football team.

Rep. Karen Carter, D-New Orleans, said nearly all of the city's delegates had supported the governor's hospital tax that passed the House on Wednesday, as well as her proposal for a $1-a-pack tax increase on cigarettes. The delegation met with her and administration officials to "remind them of the state's obligation" to reimburse the city with the casino money, Carter said.

Carter said she asked the governor, "Please don't make us beg for that."

But Blanco said there is a limited amount of money in the budget, and the delegation already has items in it. So the delegation members need to "get their priorities straight" and arrange them within those limits in the budget bills, Blanco said. The House members will have to take their plea to the Senate.

The lawmakers could seek to get their request into the $18.4 billion appropriations bill for the next fiscal year, Blanco said. Another possible source of money is the supplemental budget bill, the main instrument for spending the state's unexpected windfall of extra revenue before the current fiscal year ends June 30.

That bill contains $359 million in new spending from the state general fund, some of which is being used to pay legal judgments owed by the state and to boost underfunded government employee retirement systems. It also contains more than $45 million in small and large windfalls for various agencies and programs in state government.

The casino money has been a bone of contention since Harrah's signed a new contract with the state in 2001. Each year, the city negotiates a contract with the Gaming Control Board for its share of the casino taxes, and the target payment is about $3.6 million a year.

Harrah's has paid its taxes to the state since 2001, but the Legislature hasn't appropriated the full amount to the city; so far, the state has paid $2 million to New Orleans. Earlier this year, Blanco urged Mayor Ray Nagin to try to get more money directly from Harrah's.

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Robert Travis Scott can be reached at rscott@timespicayune.com or (225) 342-4197.



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