SNOW HILL Despite increased
competition the Casino at Ocean
Downs is still seeing "moderate
growth," according to General Man-
ager Joe Cavilla. If that growth con-
tinues it could mean more impact
funding for Worcester County, which
is poised to see a boost next year as
other casinos in Western Maryland
come online and the 18 percent of
revenue that Ocean Downs sends a-
cross the bridge is returned.
At Monday's Local Development
Council (LDC) meeting, the group
reviewed how the casino revenue-
generated impact grant funding that
Worcester County and some of its
municipalities receive is being used.
A common allocation of funding
was toward infrastructure improve-
ments. Ocean City directed $454,948
that it received through impact funds
toward street repair in FY13 with the
intention of doing the same in FY14.
Likewise, the Ocean Pines Associa-
tion has used $591,545 for street
paving in FY13 and estimates a simi-
lar expenditure for FY14.
The town of Berlin received
$227,474 in impact funding and
used that to purchase 5.25 acres of
property in FY13 that will eventually
house a new police station. The
total cost of the property was
$828,530 and the use of grant funds
allowed Berlin to pay that off two
years ahead of schedule.
There was some question over
Berlin's priorities by LDC member
Cam Bunting, who owns a real es-
tate office in town. She asked
whether it might be better to move
forward with a new community cen-
ter before a police station since the
current center on Flower Street is
showing its age.
"Wouldn't it be nicer to do a
whole new community center than
putting a Band-Aid on a building
that's old?" she asked.
A new community center is next
up, said Michael Day, Berlin's direc-
tor of Economic and Community
Development, but the council felt
that a new police station should
come first.
The county, which receives the
lion's share of impact grant funding,
spent $202,050 for eight vehicles in
FY13 and will spend $2 million in
FY14 on debt service for the
Worcester Technical High School.
Because impact funding is tied to
the casino's revenue, towns and the
county will be working with more
money if Ocean Downs grows.
Significant growth over time seems
likely, according to Cavilla.
"The activity at the casino re-mains
consistent. We've got pretty moderate
growth. Certainly nothing compared
to what's happening over the bridge,
but the casino continues to perform
well with moderate growth each
month over the previous year which is
certainly a good story in this economy
and compared to some of the other
facilities that may be on the Delmarva
peninsula," he said.
The Western Maryland casinos are
a mixed-bag for Ocean Downs and
Worcester. While they are in direct
competition and likely siphoning away
some customers, once the casinos
across the bridge are all up and run-
ning, Ocean Downs will be allowed to
cease sending 18 percent of its slot
revenue to Annapolis. That was the
deal that was made when the casino
first installed video lottery machines. It
was a raw deal, according to Delegate
Mike McDermott.
McDermott is unhappy with the
funding going across the bridge for
what amounts to the privilege of
Ocean Downs operating slot ma-
chines. He introduced a bill that would
end that funding once the two remain-
ing Western Maryland casinos come
online, the first at the end of this year
and the last sometime in 2015.
"That's a lot of money leaving our
county going to places that didn't
have any impact at all," he told the
LDC, "so this is kind of trying to right
some wrongs, is what that was all
about. So hopefully, as that money
grows, there will be an ability for the
rest of the folks in Worcester to
share it."
Some communities that were ex-
cluded from initial impact funding
coverage are already anticipating
the end of the 18 percent check to
Annapolis. Snow Hill Mayor Charlie
Dorman asked that his town and
Pocomoke be considered for impact
funding since neither are currently
receiving any share of casino rev-
enue."Well, you know, mayor," McDer-
mott told Dorman, "that's probably
something that should be negotiat-
ed when that comes around be-
cause they were left out of the loop,
as well you know, in the initial offer-
ing of this."
However, Ocean Pines Police
Chief David Massey pointed out that
the reason for the impact funding
that goes to Ocean City, Berlin and
Ocean Pines is literally because of
the "impact" that the Casino at
Ocean Downs has on those com-
munities, usually in the form of in-
creased traffic and need for emer-
gency response. Snow Hill and Po-
comoke are far enough removed
that direct impact isn't an issue.
"That's what the legislation was
designed to do. To address the di-
rect impact of the people who are
impacted by the casino," he said.
Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan
made a similar case and added that
Snow Hill and Pocomoke already
benefit from the impact funding that
goes to Worcester County and is
used on things like area schools.
Still, McDermott reiterated his
belief that it's a topic worth discus-
sion in the future.
Casino's Direct Impact Fund Allocations Detailed
Page 16
January 17, 2014
The Dispatch/Maryland Coast Dispatch
By TRAVIS BROWN
STAFF WRITER
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