Approximately 50 percent of the $23.9 million local share of revenues from the slots of the Seneca Niagara Casino in 2004 and 2005 will be alloted for the upgrading of a local business section of the city, added funding for the construction of a new terminal at the Niagara Falls International Airport, and finance the initial work for the Niagara Experience Buffalo Niagara region.
"There is no panacea, no silver bullet, " said Christopher Schoepflin, President of USA Niagara Development Corp. "We're pleased that the agreement allows USA Niagara to continue the momentum we've built over the last five years."
The money coming from the gambling revenues has been at issue for almost two years, with the local government saying that they should be receiving the full amount instead of just half.
Under the compact that the Seneca Nation of Indians signed with the state of New York, 18 percent of the revenue from the slots will be divided between the state and the host municipality. The state gets 75 percent while the municipality gets 25 percent. The same terms will be applying for the proposed Buffalo Creek Casino.
Some local leaders including Assemblywoman Francine DelMonte, D-Lewsiton, said that all funds should be flowing through the City Hall since the Niagara Falls is the host municipality of the casino, which in 2002 took over the city's conference center. However, other entities similarly wanted a share of the pie, with State Sen. George D. Maziarz, R-Newfane, saying that he needed money to help fund the airport and countywide marketing agency, while Gov. George E Pataki's office wanted its share to go to USA Niagara, its development agency in the city.
Maziarz, DelMonte and Pataki eventually reached a compromise. Around half of the revenue would be reserved for city government, schools and a local hospital, and the rest would go to different agencies for tourism projects and other developments.
"The idea is that the public sector will create an environment to which the private sector wants to invest, " Schoepflin said. "Make it an environment that people can access every day."
A "way-finding system" is also being conceived by a Manhattan based team to be incorporated into new downtown signs set to make Niagara falls more pedestrian friendly. In addition to showing the way, the signs will also be telling local history tidbits.
The city conference center has also been taken by USA Niagara under its wing, to be given $1.1 million for operating costs. $3 million will go to the planned Niagara Experience Center.
"The plan brings some money to the city to address its immediate needs but tries to put some things aside for the future, " Paul Dyster, Niagara Experience Center board chairman said. "There's a logic to this plan in that sense . . . It gives us opportunity."