Lake Bowl seeks lower gambling tax rate for Moses Lake card room – iFIBER One News

MOSES LAKE The Moses Lake City Council is considering lowering its gambling tax rate at the request of the only business it affects.

Lake Bowl CEO B.J. Garbe offered a proposal Tuesday night to lower the gambling tax from 10 percent to five percent incrementally over four years. Lake Bowl operates the only casino card room in the city.

The reason that were asking for this proposal is our industry is dying. It really is, Garbe said. With a combination of tribal competition and legislation, were in a world of hurt and were hoping for some relief from you guys.

In 2016, the Lake Bowl card room provided about $232,000 in revenue to the city through the gambling tax. Garbe said on average the tax costs the business about $220,000.

The state allows cities and counties to collect tax on gambling receipts. The maximum tax rate for card rooms is 20 percent. City Manager John Williams said the revenue collected from the gambling tax goes into the citys general fund, and more specifically is dedicated to public safety.

Nobody else is burdened by what were burdened by, he said. There have been several other municipalities that have lowered their gambling tax. Spokane, for example, was at 15 percent at one point. They are at two percent today. And that is all for relief because we keep getting beaten, beaten, beaten by legislation and competition to where our industry is dying. The one thing that we cannot do with all these increased costs is raise prices in the gambling industry. I can in my restaurant, I can in my bar, I can in the bowling center, but I cannot in the casino. And because of that, all weve been doing for 20 years is incurring all these extra costs.

The Lake Bowl card room opened in 1998 and has paid the city more than $4 million in gambling taxes, according to Garbe.

Councilmember Ryann Leonard voiced concern about losing revenue as the city faces budget struggles.

The big thing that is holding me up here isif we dont have that money, we cant do things for the community, Leonard added. I want to support our businesses and be fair to our businesses but I also want to be fair to our citizens and our responsibility that we have as a city and the reduce monies we have coming in from our other streams.

Garbe hinted that if the card room were to close, that gambling tax revenue would be reduced to nothing.

If youre taking about the budget, 10 percent of zero is zero. Five percent of something is something, Garbe said. And thats literally what were up against. I wouldnt be here today if I didnt feel like we needed this relief. Were literally losing customers every day to (Northern) Quest. This is my only move to offset new expenses coming our way and the competition that is already here.

Lake Bowl employs about 120 people, 50 of which work in the casino. Garbe said the states new minimum wage increases will add about $723,000 in labor expenses by 2020 when the minimum wage increases to $13.50 an hour.

Im very proud of what weve been able to accomplish over decades, how we can support the community and how weve grown our workforce, providing good jobs for a lot of people, Garbe said. Unfortunately, were at that breaking point where we need some relief.

The council agreed to have city staff bring back the gambling tax ordinance to included Garbes proposal and discussed holding a future study session.

The Russell family has been a staple in our community since way back in the 50s, Mayor Todd Voth stated. Theyve contributed over the years so much in our community. This is not a threat to the council, this is not a threat to the community. I think it is reality. If they have to close down, literally were going to lose everything that theyve been doing for the community plus the employees being laid off.

In a letter to the council, the Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce supported Garbes proposal.

After much discussion, we do feel that the council should take a look at this significant tax on gross revenue being placed on one business and the economic impact of those jobs in our community, chamber Executive Director Debbie Doran-Martinez wrote. While we understand the need to increase the general fund for the operation of our city, we also need to keep people employed.

Lake Bowl was opened in 1957 by George and Bernice Russell.

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Lake Bowl seeks lower gambling tax rate for Moses Lake card room - iFIBER One News