Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
The pandemic has hit the financial pipeline for local impact grants that are key for several Lower Bucks County towns.
Earlier this week, the Redevelopment Authority of Bucks County held a virtual press conference on the local share of revenues from Parx Casino in Bensalem.
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Jeff Darwak, the RDA executive director, said the COVID-19-related shutdown of Parx in spring will hurt the amount of funds used for local impact grants that are doled out yearly. A number of municipalities contiguous to Parx host community Bensalem can apply for grants: Bristol Borough, Bristol Township, Bucks County, Hulmeville Borough, Langhorne Borough, Langhorne Manor Borough, Lower Southampton Township, Middletown Township, and Penndel Borough.
“The local share funds are a critical funding source for our blue-collar working-class municipalities near the casino, many of which already have a higher tax burden,” said Darwak.
The grants are often used for funding police and emergency services equipment, infrastructure improvements, and graffiti removal efforts.
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Darwak said the 2020 grant program could see as much as $1 million less than 2019 where the program awarded $3.9 million to local towns.
As of this week, about $6 million in grant requests were sent to the RDA.
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The grant program is funded by receiving 1 percent of gross terminal gambling revenues from Parx Casino. From there, the RDA administers the grant program. The program was written into law by Republican State Sen. Tommy Tomlinson.
Since the program started in 2008, more than $45 million has been awarded to municipalities.
Local share grants also supported businesses during the early weeks of the pandemic.
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The virtual press conference also featured a number of area officials with concerns about legislation that would dramatically expand gaming in Pennsylvania. The fear is smaller, less regulated video gaming terminals could take revenues away from the casino that funds the local share grants.
Already established illegal video gaming terminals and now legislation that could allow 85,000 of them legally across the state threaten the local share funding. Those on the press conference worried that those video gaming terminals would jeopardize revenue at the state’s 13 licensed casinos, which support more than $1.5 billion in state taxes and 20,000 jobs.
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“Parx Casino provides thousands of jobs in Bucks County and provides millions of dollars in taxes and local share fees to state and local governments,” said Tomlinson. “The fact is, these other gaming machines are illegal, unregulated, and have no place in our communities.”
Republican Langhorne Borough-based State Rep. Frank Farry, who is also a fire chief, said major cuts to the local share grants would be dangerous for communities in the area.
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“Our fire department would not be able to make apparatus purchases without placing significant burdens on our local taxpayers if the local share grants weren’t available to us,” he said. “We started a helpline for first responders with post-traumatic stress disorder, and Parx Casino contributed $10,000 to help us get that program off the ground. They do so many benevolent things for the community.”
Farry also raised the point that video gaming terminals are harmful because those banned from casinos due to gambling addiction won’t be turned away.
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“Any legislation that would expand video game terminals would be disastrous to the state of Pennsylvania, and have a terrible impact on our communities,” said Bucks County Commissioner Gene DiGirolamo, a former Republican lawmaker from Bensalem.
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