Print This Post Print This Post

Oct

31

Reason #10 to VOTE NO on ISSUE 3 (or, it’s a Charlie Brown Halloween, Ohio!)


Because it fails technically as a constitutional amendment.

You can catch up on the bla bla bla here. The gist being, the proposed amendment language stinks, is inoperable, overbroad in some places, impossibly narrow in others and on and on and on. Well, at least 57 reasons worth of on and on.

This reason gives you the guts of the bribe to the rest of Ohio. The last paragraph was the bribe to people who say that Issue 3 is about education and is the best we can do.

Do not be fooled.

But do consider yourself warned: these guts are very messy.

Here is the seventh paragraph of the proposed amendment language:

In addition to the forgoing amount, an additional one percent of gross slot machine revenue shall be paid to the state to pay for gambling addiction services; an additional six-tenths of one percent of gross slot machine revenue shall be paid to the municipality or township in which each facility is located; an additional three percent of gross slot machine revenue shall be divided equally and paid to the county in which each facility is located and the county seat of that county, which proceeds shall be expended for economic development projects; an additional eight-tenths of one percent of gross slot machine revenue shall be paid to the county in which the non-track facilities are located, which proceeds shall be expended for economic development projects; an additional eight-tenths of one percent of gross slot machine revenue shall be paid to the city in which the non-track facilities are located, which proceeds shall be expended for economic development projects; an additional four tenths of one-percent of gross slot machine revenue shall be divided equally and paid to a county that has a population of at least seven hundred and fifty thousand persons and not more than one permitted commercial horse racing track, and the county seat of such county, which proceeds shall be expended for economic development projects; and an additional two and fourtenths percent of gross slot machine revenue shall be paid to the state for distribution to all other counties pursuant to the local government revenue assistance fund, which proceeds shall be expended for economic development or capital improvement projects. In addition to the foregoing amounts, an additional six percent of gross slot machine revenue at facilities located at each permitted commercial horse racing track shall be used by those tracks for purse money. In the event that devices are transferred between facilities located at permitted commercial horse racing tracks as provided in this section, the transferee facility shall distribute equally the amount of funds this section provides for purse money between the transferor and transferee tracks. An additional six percent of gross slot machine revenue at non-track facilities shall be deposited into the Ohio simulcast horse racing purse fund for distribution as provided by law. The proceeds of any additional games, if authorized by voters pursuant to this section, shall be distributed in the same manner as the proceeds from the operation of slot machines. No other fees or taxes may be applied to or levied against gross slot machine revenue or the amounts wagered or the proceeds of the other games authorized by this section.

Complete and utter blech.

Let’s break it down, without editorializing, but rather, putting it into bullet points so you can see exactly what it tries to provide:

1%: an additional one percent of gross slot machine revenue shall be paid to the state to pay for gambling addiction services;

0.6%: an additional six-tenths of one percent of gross slot machine revenue shall be paid to the municipality or township in which each facility is located;

3%: an additional three percent of gross slot machine revenue shall be divided equally and paid to the county in which each facility is located and the county seat of that county, which proceeds shall be expended for economic development projects;

0.8% an additional eight-tenths of one percent of gross slot machine revenue shall be paid to the county in which the non-track facilities are located, which proceeds shall be expended for economic development projects;

0.8% an additional eight-tenths of one percent of gross slot machine revenue shall be paid to the city in which the non-track facilities are located, which proceeds shall be expended for economic development projects;

0.4% an additional four tenths of one-percent of gross slot machine revenue shall be divided equally and paid to a county that has a population of at least seven hundred and fifty thousand persons and not more than one permitted commercial horse racing track, and the county seat of such county, which proceeds shall be expended for economic development projects; and

2.4% an additional two and fourtenths percent of gross slot machine revenue shall be paid to the state for distribution to all other counties pursuant to the local government revenue assistance fund, which proceeds shall be expended for economic development or capital improvement projects.

6% In addition to the foregoing amounts, an additional six percent of gross slot machine revenue at facilities located at each permitted commercial horse racing track shall be used by those tracks for purse money. In the event that devices are transferred between facilities located at permitted commercial horse racing tracks as provided in this section, the transferee facility shall distribute equally the amount of funds this section provides for purse money between the transferor and transferee tracks.

6% An additional six percent of gross slot machine revenue at non-track facilities shall be deposited into the Ohio simulcast horse racing purse fund for distribution as provided by law.

Let’s total that up:

1.0 (paid to the state for gambling addiction services)

.6 (paid to muni or township that’s home to a permitted facility)

3.0 (divided equally, paid to county that’s home to permitted facility & its county seat; must be used for economic development)

.8 (paid to county in which non-track facility exists; must be used for econ dev)

.8 (paid to the city in which the non-track facilities exist, must be used for econ dev)

.4 (divided equally, paid to county and its county seat of a county with at least 750K persons and not more than one permitted race track, must be used for econ dev)

2.4 (paid to the state, distributed to all the other counties “pursuant to the local government revenue assistance fund,” must be used for econ dev OR capital improvement projects)

6.0 (this amount of gross slot machine revenue gathered at race tracks must be used by the tracks for purse money; when machines transferred, transferee will split equally between transferee and transferor tracks)

6.0 (this amount of gross slot machine revenue gathered at non-track facilities must be deposited into the Ohio simulcast horse racing purse fund for distribution provided by law)

TOTAL: 21%

Add that to the 30% for grants, and that’s 51%, with 49% remaining to be given to the owners of the slots I assume. (The 55% number often seen as going to the corporate backers is because 6% goes to the track owners for purse money, and 6% goes to the non-track facility owners for Ohio Simulcast purses.)

The last two sentences of this portion read as follows:

The proceeds of any additional games, if authorized by voters pursuant to this section, shall be distributed in the same manner as the proceeds from the operation of slot machines. No other fees or taxes may be applied to or levied against gross slot machine revenue or the amounts wagered or the proceeds of the other games authorized by this section.

The bolded sentence is where the Ohio Constitution provides for the purse money and the 45% that goes to the corporate facility owners to never be taxed and to never be required to pay any other fees. Ever. Never. As in, at no time. Ever.

That is one damn amazing yield from a constitutional amendment. I haven’t been in law school since 1992, but who knew that you could write a contract right into the state’s constitution?

Proponents will moan about how much it will cost for the companies to run their facilities. You don’t actually want me to be concerned about that, do you? So their profit margin will be what? I gotta tell you, I’m so not worried about that.

Here’s a comparison of what OLE says the money will look like versus the Ohio OMB, including applying these percentages:

By the way, which seven race tracks are we talking about? Because I don’t even know racetracks except for Northfield Park and Thistledown – and isn’t one of those not horses?

This site lists eight race tracks in Ohio – which one isn’t included in Issue 3?

Ohio Horse Racing Tracks
Beulah Park – Grove City, OH, USA
Lebanon Raceway – Lebanon, OH, USA
Northfield Park – Northfield, OH, USA
Raceway Park, Toledo, Ohio, USA
River Downs – Cincinnati, OH, USA
Scioto Downs – Columbus, OH, USA
Thistledown – Cleveland, OH, USA
Toledo Raceway Park – Toledo, Ohio, USA

But I digress.

The quick hits from this reason to vote no on Issue 3 are:

1 – the cumbersome nature of this calculus increase the likelihood that no one will get what they think they’ve been promised (duh, since it was said just to get their vote);

2 – only very specific locales will receive scraps, with the remaining 80 some-odd Ohio counties getting even less;

3 – the fact that these provisions are in the constitution makes it extremely difficult to re-tool, should patterns of expenses, as well as revenue, deviate from projections; and

4 – gross slot machine revenue should be taxed, period; the constitution seems to indicate that the money going to the tuition grants will be tax-free, to the state and treats that money as though it were a tax already on the facility owners; but then the 55% going to the facility owners will not be taxed and no fees will be assessed, after the payoffs, I mean, payouts to the governmental units, as prescribed in the constitution, are given.

Doesn’t sound like any business arrangement I’ve ever heard of before.

Last but not least by a long shot, read this comment by Ed Morrison on a Brewed Fresh Daily thread, titled, Forest City to pay $50M plus 43% annually to PA.

Sounds to me like we’re getting nothing but rocks if Issue 3 passes.

Previous reasons why Issue 3 is scary, er, um, you should vote no on Issue 3 (Ohio Learn and Earn):

Reason 11
Reason 12
Reason 13
Reason 14
Reason 15
Reason 16
Reason 17
Reason 18
Reason 19
Reason 20
Reason 21
Reason 22
Reason 23
Reason 24
Reason 25
Reason 26
Reason 27
Reason 28
Reason 29
Reason 30
Reason 31
Reason 32
Reason 33
Reason 34
Reason 35
Reason 36
Reason 37
Reason 38
Reason 39
Reason 40
Reason 41
Reason 42
Reason 43
Reason 44
Reason 45
Reason 46
Reason 47
Reason 48
Reason 49
Reason 50
Reason 51
Reason 52
Reason 53
Reason 54
Reason 55
Reason 56
Reason 57

Vote no on Issue 3 (Ohio Learn and Earn).

Bookmark and Share

By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:44 am October 31st, 2006 in Politics 

Comments

Leave a Reply




"));