Northampton County Puzzles Over Slicing Gambling Pie

At last night's Northampton County Council meeting, a new Authority was established, with a fifty year lifespan, to decide how to divvy up gambling revenue once Bethlehem's Sands casino becomes operational. It's called the Northampton County Gaming Revenue and Economic Development Authority. Who will sit on that Authority? How many members? How will Authority staff get paid? Will municipalities be forced to fill out grant applications?

Council members will try to figure that out later. I honestly don't know how they'll avoid litigation, especially because they're dealing with potential windfalls for some communities.

Elected representatives from four of the five municipalities that surround host city Bethlehem were on hand to ask for equal shares. Freemansburg, Hellertown, Lower Saucon and Hanover have already drawn up an agreement to that effect, and expect Bethlehem Township to sign on very soon.

These officials sat in the peanut gallery with me. Hanover Township Manager Jay Finnegan, when he saw me, said "Hey skinny!" For that, I refused to give him a piece of the candy bars Angle was selling before the meeting. Hellertown Mayor Richard Fluck sat right next to me, and I offered to dive on any grenade that might be lobbed our way. "Don't worry," he told me. "I'm shorter than you, so I can get it."

Freemansburg's solicitor, Larry Fox, was their mouthpiece. He broke the ice by telling council, "It's so cold tonight that I saw a lawyer with his hands in his own pockets." He argued that the simplest solution is just to give everyone an equal share of the pie. "We can't do anything unless we have a sum certain. ... Freemansburg has three full-time officers and no lock-up. We can't formulate how we're going to do this until we know what we get."

He also spoke against the grants process. "The only people who will get wealthy from that are lawyers and experts." But as Bethlehem resident and former gambling impact committee chair Bob Pfenning warns, we may have no choice. An Erie County dispute over the proper way to divide gambling revenue is currently bogged down in Commonwealth Court. And once contiguous communities are awarded sums of money, even noncontiguous municipalities like Easton and Williams Township may be entitled to seek excess funds.

If Fox' proposal is followed, it may very well be that Freemansburg will be dipping its hands into the pockets of some municipalities who need a portion of the gambling revenue.

Because the law is so unclear, it is very likely that whatever council decides, this matter will end up in court. In fact, on his way out, Freemansburg Mayor Gerald Yob told Pfenning, "See you in court."