RethinkErie

Earll amends gambling measure to help Erie County community college

Earll amends gambling measure to help Erie County community college
By JOHN GUERRIERO
john.guerriero@timesnews.com

Gamblers at roulette, blackjack and other table games could provide an annual source of revenue for a proposed community college in Erie County.

Without fanfare, state Sen. Jane Earll put an amendment into a Senate table games bill that would use a proposed 2 percent local share from gross table games revenue to establish and maintain a community college.

The amended bill with language specific to Erie County passed 
the Senate, but still would have to 
be approved by the state House.

“It's a great opportunity for us to jump-start a community college and to identify a stream of funding that's not coming from county tax dollars,'' said Earll, of Fairview Township, R-49th Dist.

“I think there's a lot of support for a community college as long as it's not funded by county tax dollars,'' said Earll, chairwoman of a Senate committee with gaming oversight.

A community college has been on the regional agenda in some circles for years, though cost has been one of the roadblocks.

Earll said she plans to meet with state House representatives from the Erie region in an attempt to reach consensus on using the local share for the community college. No meeting date has been set.

State Rep. Flo Fabrizio, of Erie, D-2nd Dist., said he thought the idea has merit “in principle.'' But Fabrizio said he has not made a commitment.

Fabrizio said Thursday night there seems to be concern from at least some other members of the Erie County legislative delegation — Democrats and Republicans — about whether the local share should be used for the community college.

“I respect the opinion of my other colleagues. I at least want to have some dialogue on this thing so they can at least share their concerns,'' he said.

Fabrizio, vice chairman of the House Gaming Oversight Committee, also said not everyone supports creating a community college.

“There are elements within the community that think it is absolutely necessary and there are elements that are strongly opposed to it,'' he said.

One of the groups in support of the community college is Rethink Erie, a partnership of business, government, philanthropic and economic development interests launched by the Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership to help evaluate the college's need.

Mary Bula, vice president of the chamber's Growth Partnership Division, is also on the leadership team of Rethink Erie.

She said Rethink Erie supports the idea of using a local share of table games revenue for the community college.

“Sen. Earll has been involved throughout the Rethink Erie process and is well aware of what has been happening in terms of the creation of a community college and the financial obstacles that we face to do that,'' Bula said.

“She made a very positive step to help bring a transformational initiative to fruition through this legislation,'' Bula said.

Bula said the local share would be an estimated $1 million to $1.5 million annually.

The legislation would give the Erie community four years to establish the college. If that deadline is not met, the money accumulating in an escrow account held by the Erie County Redevelopment Authority would be used by the authority for other economic development projects, Earll said.

That gives supporters four years to get a local sponsor or sponsors, get the application approved by the state Board of Education, build up the fund and launch the college.

Bula said the college could get started sooner than four years by starting smaller and building its vocational and other educational programs over time.

Bula said the gaming money would be enough to launch the college, and it would be able to leverage more funding from sources including the private sector, local and national foundations, and federal and state grants.

Bula commended the Senate for taking “a proactive step'' toward putting funding in place for a college that would help regional residents further their education and income, as well as help existing and potentially new businesses draw from a more educated work force.

The plan now is to take advantage of existing classroom and training space, rather than spend millions of dollars on new buildings, she said.

“If, over time, it's warranted then you could consider what expansion options would make the most sense,'' she said.

About $200 million from table games would be part of the revenue in the $27.8 billion budget that Gov. Ed Rendell signed Oct. 9 — the same day that Earll's amended table games bill passed the Senate.

But the Senate and the House still have to agree on table games legislation, and both chambers are apart on issues such as how much to tax the casinos and what to charge for an application fee.

Senate Bill 1033, with Earll's amendment, would charge each of the nine casinos — including Presque Isle Downs & Casino in Summit Township — an application fee of $15 million, a state tax of 12 percent and a 2 percent local share.

A House version of the bill calls for an application fee of $20 million and a state tax of 34 percent.

Casinos object to those higher amounts.

Richard Knight, chief executive of Presque Isle Downs, said the casino would prefer an application fee of $10 million and a 12 percent tax, though “the tax rate is negotiable within a certain range.''

Table games are labor-intensive, which casinos say cut into profits.

“It doesn't make sense to do this and lose money. I think everybody could understand that,'' Knight said.

The House and Senate likely would compromise between the two versions.

And now the proposed local share for a community college gives at least the Erie-area legislative delegation something else to debate.

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