23-03-2025
State lawmakers push for amended casino cash sharing deal
NIAGARA FALLS — Two Republican state lawmakers from Niagara County say they want to ensure casino funds keep flowing to local entities previously guaranteed gaming revenue under state legislation that expired more than a year ago.
During a press conference on Friday at Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center, state Sen. Minority Leader Rob Ortt, R-North Tonawanda, and state Assemblyman Angelo Morinello, R-Niagara Falls, renewed their calls to amend and approve a new version of the now-expired gaming revenue sharing agreement commonly known as '99h.'
The agreement, which ended along with the state's gaming compact with the Seneca Nation of Indians on Dec. 31, 2023, required the City of Niagara Falls to share part of its annual allotment of casino funds with the city's hospital, school district, housing authority and underground railroad interpretive center as well as the Mount St. Mary's Neighborhood Health Center and Niagara County's lead tourism agency, Destination Niagara.
Absent the legislation, both Ortt and Morinello said the entities are unable to bank on what they described as 'essential' gaming revenue, which they said has not only helped sustain the organizations over the years but has also resulted in substantial capital projects and community investment in the Falls.
'If we weren't here talking about this, those great things would still be going on, but there would be less funding and resources to do so,' Ortt said. 'So maybe a few less people would be helping. Maybe a few less people, maybe more than a few, would not be employed or not employed here. So it is critical.'
The now-expired gaming compact required the Seneca Nation to give the state 25% of slot machine revenue from its three local casinos — Seneca Niagara, Buffalo Creek and Seneca Allegany — on an annual basis. The state then shared a percentage of its share with host municipalities, including the Falls, Buffalo and Salamanca.
Seneca leaders have said they intend to seek a lower payout percentage payment to the state under any new deal. Both Ortt and Morinello described current negotiations using terms like 'stalled' and 'at a standstill.'
While they acknowledged an amended revenue-sharing agreement could not take effect without a new gaming compact in place, both lawmakers said they feel it is important to keep pressing the issue knowing a deal will get done eventually.
Both lawmakers said they recently discussed the situation with leaders from the Seneca Nation. Ortt said he also talked it over during a recent meeting with Gov. Kathy Hochul.
'I think it is important that we make sure this is top of mind and that we get something done,' Ortt said. 'That doesn't mean you can't adjust. I think everyone up here, they would take something over nothing.'
The amended '99-H' legislation calls for Niagara Falls to keep 80% of its annual share of casino revenue once a new compact is in place. Under the proposal, city funds would be designated to accommodate and enhance economic development and to support neighborhood revitalization, public health and safety and infrastructure improvement.
Under the proposal, the remaining 20% would be divided up among the other entities each year as follows:
• The Falls hospital and school district would both receive 5.5%, not to exceed $750,000;
• Destination Niagara would receive 7%, not to exceed $1 million;
• The Underground Railroad Heritage Commission, which oversees the operation of the city's interpretive center, would receive 1%, or $200,000, whichever is greater;
• The Falls Housing Authority and Mount St. Mary's Neighborhood Health Center, located on Ninth Street in the city, would receive $50,000 each.
While they noted that the city has no shortage of needs and uses for casino revenue, both Ortt and Morinello argued that the other entities could use the money as well and that what they've done with casino money in the past has benefited the community as a whole.
'Each one of the entities that is listed in 99-H provides some form of economic development, some form of tourism,' Morinello said.
Memorial Medical Center received as much as $750,000 per year under the prior revenue-sharing agreement. CEO Joe Ruffolo said the bulk of the money was used to support large-scale capital projects and investments, including the development of two inpatient behavioral health centers and renal dialysis, stroke and cardiac care units. Ruffolo said guaranteed casino revenue in future years would go a long way in supporting the hospital's current $58 million long-term capital improvement plan, which includes plans to demolish the healthcare facility's deteriorating parking ramp on 10th Street.
'The renewal of 99-H and the continued funding for the hospital is extremely important if we are able to hit all of those projects on the timeline we have set forward,' he said.
Ortt's version of the amended '99-H' legislation has already been approved by the state senate. It is up for consideration by the assembly this year.
Both lawmakers said, as a 'local bill' covering only entities in the Falls, it is not required to be co-sponsored by any Democrat in Albany, however, passage would require support from Democrats who control the majority in the state assembly.
Hochul provided Niagara Falls with $7.6 million last year as an advance of casino revenue the city should have received under the old compact. The city did not share any of the money with any of the entities previously covered under 99-H.
Falls Democratic Mayor Robert Restaino, who did not attend Friday's press conference, previously told the newspaper that he's reluctant to engage in talks about a new revenue-sharing agreement without a new gaming compact in place. One of his main concerns is the lack of understanding about what the total revenue share for the state might be under any new compact.
'Not knowing what the compact is going to look like makes it difficult to look at what would a refashioned distribution of resources look like,' Restaino said in an interview last week.
Restaino also previously noted that the city relies on casino revenue to support its general fund obligations, including services like police and fire protection. He said he's concerned such services may be impacted if the state, and by extension the city, end up receiving less money each year.
'The money that we receive already has a destination,' Restaino said. 'Until we can completely wean off of casino funds in the general fund, that's got to be entered into the conversation too.'
State Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples-Stokes, who yields a lot of influence over assembly votes by virtue of her position as the body's Majority Leader, has not endorsed the idea of amending 99-H.
In a statement sent to the newspaper in response to a request for comment last week, Stokes said she is interested in seeing a renegotiation of the gaming compact between the state and the Seneca Nation and that she hopes, with a new compact in place, Restaino and the city council will 'have the ability to make decisions, for themselves, on how those (funds) are used.'
On Friday, Morinello expressed confidence that he would be able to secure support from enough Democrats to get the bill passed in the Assembly.
'If this were to get to that point, I can assure you that I have enough working relationships across the aisle that we can get it across the finish line,' he said.
Ortt said he has also asked Hochul — New York's most influential Democrat — to endorse the bill as well.
'I think having her support, it certainly helps us get it across the finish line,' Ortt said.
