The News Tribune has an in-depth article on the latest controversy Council Member Stebner is stirring up (with support from his friends). He has an ordinance ready for passage to raise the gambling tax on the casino by 666.666% (3% to 20% - nothing scary about that number!)
Read it over and then come to the meeting Monday to give your input. Here is a snippet from Jason Hagey's article:
"Fabre spoke to Stebner about the proposal, and the conversation inflamed suspicion about Stebner’s motives. “He told me either the tax will close me, or I’ll have to close when Tacoma takes over,” Fabre said. The City of Tacoma enacted a ban on mini-casinos. Stebner admits telling Fabre that, but Stebner said he was trying to emphasize the need for Ruston to generate more revenue. “If we don’t start doing something, we’re going to run out of money,” he said. “We’ll be in Tacoma.”"
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
10 comments:
lWhat an ASS we have masquerading as a councilman among us!
i think 20% is a little extreme but 3% is nothing short of ridicules. An MSN article i found said vegas has a gambling tax of 6.75% whether its true or not i cant verify but how did the number 20 originate? my guess is miss cleo the jamaican fortune teller.
Any ideas???
We used to have a lower rate, but it was increased to this rate a couple of years ago. I recall the argument for a lower rate was related to getting this new business established, so they got a reduction.
I think we have always been in the 3% or less range on these types of taxes (pull tabs for example). There is a delicate balance between too much tax that drives business away and enough to pay for the services the business needs.
In this case, the casino is loosing money each year (the owner Steve says he has provided copies of his taxes to the town to prove the point). I'm not sure any increase would be ok - and Ruston is making some pretty good bucks by the sound of it.
Steve says other small town are charging similar numbers to our current rate, and found that when they lowered their rate, the tax income went up because there was more use. I think Vegas can afford more cause there is so many casino's and business is going well for them...
Something to think about...
There is little doubt now their intention, the Tacoma bunch, was to merge in Tacoma. Wait till the taxes go up on that one.
I now understand why Bob Everding resigned, Bob being a man of character, couldn't stomach this NIMBY insanity and destructiveness. Never was it more true: Birds of a feather flock together.
Stebner himself cost the town of Ruston over 100 grand: $60,000 plus on the BALLET LAWSUIT with the Commencement and now $70,000 income lost due to closing the Point Defiance Casino. Never did believe their absurd revelation they didn't like the sign.
This town will not survive the avalanche of lawsuits, especially when the risk insurer realizes they are self inflicted wounds.
yqibysbl
Bob Everding resigned during the 1st lawsuit between the casino and the chinese church. I believe he was about to be exposed as a co-conspirater with the RC (since his wife is editor of it)and needed to get outta there as fast as he could. Sorry to pop your bubble but this NIMBY insanity started when he and this pack moved into town!
Stebners answer is to run business out of town by raising taxes, stirring up the neighbors(using his ace: Walker) to rally against business and progress and ultimatly keeping us intentionally in court. Not any accusations here just observations.
After reading over much of what has happened in the past 5 months in Ruston, with multiple lawsuits costing the town thousands of dollars, why doesn't someone initiate a recall election of the problematic council members? Just recognizing the problem isn't going to fix it, you need to take action.
Horses ass...check
700% increase in gaming taxes...check
Driving the Town into bankrupcy...
check
Having him tarred featherd and recalled...priceless!!!!
The gig is up Stebner.Resign,pack up and move out of town.We will forgive and forget you.
I am against that kind of increase at once. You don't rely on or pick on just one business, it takes everything and everyone in the town to make things work. With the current state of economy we need to be looking at everything and how it will affect those concerned. If the end result is to have the casino close then I hope Mr. Stebner has something lined up to replace the taxes we'll be losing, is willing to help find jobs for those that will loose theirs, and has something be in place immediately to continue those taxes paid. Personally, I enjoy going down for some food and beverages. It is a nice improvement to what was there before and they have been providing for the town beside the taxes in the form of banners we can put up or anything else the business district would need help with. I find this treatment of people very disrepectful.
I am happy to see the comments from everyone. Just a word of warning, we are getting close to the "civil" line on a couple of these comments. I'll let them stand for now, but please be cautious about swearing and name calling. I believe we can express our justified frustration with our elected officials (and have just as much impact) without them.
If a town doesn't want a certain type of business, don't allow it in the first place! I'm sure Mr. Fabre spent hundreds of thousands of dollars retrofitting that building into a casino.
To allow them to make that kind of investment and then decide you don't like it after the fact is unbelievably malicious. Imagine if that was YOUR money.
There are definitely arguments for and against a casino in Ruston. But... the town allowed it so now it's here to stay.
I think it's pretty obvious why there hasn't been any "new" businesses in Ruston in a long time. Can you imagine owning land on Pearl with the intention of starting a business after reading how disfunctional and anti-business Ruston really is?
Post a Comment