On Monday, the Richmond City Council delayed a decision regarding the allocation of potential tax revenue from a possible licensed casino. The council discussed a pair of proposals with Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney on Monday, but there won’t be a vote on them until at least mid-June.
Stoney’s proposal provides a 2-cent reduction to the city’s real estate tax rate. The mayor crafted the proposal in hopes of garnering support for Richmond’s casino referendum this year, after the effort failed last year. If construction of a casino in the city is approved by voters, estimates say Richmond could make $30 million annually in tax revenue.
“The price of gas, the price of your Oreos, all are going up across the country. And so, we think right now, people are deserving of that 2-cent tax cut on the real estate taxes,” Stoney recently told NBC 12.
Another proposal would allocate a third of the casino tax revenue to school funding, though Stoney counters that his proposal will also benefit local education. A vote on the two proposals could occur at the June 13 council meeting.
Controversial ballot referendum
While council members and Stoney discuss potential tax revenue allocations, there’s a chance Richmond voters don’t approve a casino at all. The 2021 casino referendum failed, but a push from Stoney and others placed the referendum back on the ballot in 2022 – at least for now.
At least one Virginia politician isn’t on board with Richmond’s plans. Sen. Joe Morrissey is among those hoping to pass a budget amendment that would prevent Richmond from holding another casino referendum in 2022. Morrissey has previously stated that he wants the city of Petersburg to have an opportunity to hold a casino referendum of its own.
Hard to believe Richmond City Council is wasting time putting another casino referendum before the voters tonight wen we rejected the last one less than 3 months ago.
— Tavarris Spinks 🏳️🌈🚲🚌⚡ (@teevirus) January 25, 2022
Virginia’s General Assembly has until June 30 to finalize the state’s budget. There’s hope among Richmond City Council members that, by the June 13 meeting, there will be additional clarity regarding Richmond’s ability to hold the 2022 casino referendum.
The casino debate has been contentious in recent months, as some Richmond residents are upset at the effort to put the referendum on the ballot again after the measure failed just a few months ago. Those against the referendum feel as if some stakeholders are going against the will of the voters and forcing their casino project onto the people of Richmond.
“The passage of this legislation would defy the expressed will of the people in Richmond,” community activist Allan-Charles Chipman said in January. “It is a frequent tactic of casinos once they lose any democratic referendum to try and break the will of the people with consecutive referendums.”
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