Belmont Park plan by the numbers

Adam Haber questions $20 million VLT revenue

Posted

With budget cuts and a possible reduction of county services becoming closer to reality for Nassau County residents, there was a palpable feeling of nervousness at the Jan. 5 East End Civic Association meeting at the Elmont Public Library. Sensing the anxiety in his fellow members, association President Patrick Nicolosi had invited Nassau Interim Finance Authority board member Adam Haber to speak at the group’s monthly meeting.

The NIFA board approved County Executive Ed Mangano’s $2.5 billion budget on Dec. 4, but imposed quarterly reviews to ensure that the county is actually producing the revenue it is projecting. The county is facing a projected deficit of $161 million in 2016, Haber said. NIFA will allow it to use $80 million in bonds to pay off expenditures, such as retirement incentives and tax certioraris. The remaining $81 million must be made up through revenue. In November, the County Legislature voted down a proposed 1.7 percent tax increase, which forced the Mangano administration to find alternate revenue streams.

One of those revenue sources is Nassau Off Track Betting Corp., which says it will add $20 million in profits from a video lottery terminal parlor on the grounds of Belmont Park. According to Haber, that number is an overestimate of potential VLT revenues.

“The fact that they’re putting in the budget $20 million from OTB is kind of funny, because they haven’t really gotten approval for the location yet,” Haber said.

OTB is waiting for the Cuomo administration to approve the Belmont site. If and when that happens, OTB will borrow $10 million to build a temporary structure on the racetrack’s north parking lot, which will be open for 18 months while a permanent complex is built in the grandstand area.

“How exciting is that?” Haber asked audience members. “Are you ready to run and spend your money at a casino in a parking lot?” To pay for the final facility, OTB will borrow an additional $75 million.

“The reality is that $85 million would have been so much better used to go toward keeping the Islanders here or building infrastructure,” Haber said. “We’re going to build something that is, in my opinion, a regressive tax on the poor, and it’s not something that really stimulates [interest].”

Another issue that many opponents of VLTs have stressed is the anticipated increase in crime that a casino would bring. Many people in Floral Park say they are worried that the streets their children frequent will become more dangerous with the arrival of casino gambling, given that Bellerose Elementary School is directly behind Belmont Park.

For its part, the Nassau County Police Department does not foresee an increase in crime if VLTs do come to the racetrack.

“Nassau County continues to remain one of the safest large communities in the country,” said Acting Police Commissioner Thomas C. Krumpter. “We anticipate that a video lottery terminal facility will have no impact on public safety or the quality of life within the surrounding communities.”

Nicolosi, an ardent supporter of bringing VLTs to Belmont, took exception to Haber’s stance on the issue. Aqueduct Racetrack, in Jamaica, Queens, has brought in billions of dollars in revenue since the machines began operating there in October 2011, according to Nicolosi. Elmont and Nassau County are losing out on potential revenue if this proposal if voted down, he said.

“I’m really aggravated at this situation. because eight or 10 years ago, this community supported a full-fledged casino at Belmont racetrack,” Nicolosi said. “To come here and say ‘no casino,’ then we might as well close the racetrack.”

The argument that Belmont has housed gambling since its founding in 1905 has been made by many on the pro-VLT side. Those who agree with Nicolosi, like Gateway Youth Outreach Executive Director Pat Boyle, have maintained that Belmont is the best possible location for VLTs because it has a well-established culture of gambling.

“Your argument is flawed because it’s a racetrack,” Nicolosi shouted at Haber. “Aqueduct has taken in billions, and I’m tired of people siding with Queens because they want to protect Queens — I want to protect Nassau County.”

Haber cited the lack of movement on construction as the reason he doubted the county’s $20 million revenue projection for 2016. Midway through the month of January without a shovel in the ground is not a good sign for the validity of the county’s claim, Haber said, adding, “I’m saying that $20 million in this year is not a reality.”