BUFFALO, NY - The building of Buffalo continues with a milestone today. It was a topping off ceremony for a $40 Million dollar expansion at the Buffalo Creek Casino 2 on Your Side spoke with city and tribal leaders about what the expansion means for the city and its bottom line.
They put the structural topping beam in place for the expansion of the Seneca Buffalo Creek casino in downtown Buffalo. It will be open in the spring of 2017 and bring the casino employment to just about 800. 50 percent of those workers are said to be city residents.
And city officials are just as pleased as the Seneca leaders and casino managers because it means an addition to the city's take of the slot machine revenue which currently amounts to just over six million dollars a year. City Comptroller Mark Schroeder says "At some point in time that six million dollars will grow to a larger number once the expansion begins to really start working."
So far the city has received $34.7 Million dollars from the city host agreement as part of the state agreement and it goes to the general fund to help balance the city budget and boost the focus on economic development.
There also separate side benefits to the city with five million dollars from Senecas for infrastructure improvements around the casino site at Michigan and Perry Streets.
And this development near the Inner Harbor and Cobblestone areas helps enhance development.
Could there be more in terms of a casino revenue share for the city? Right now the state gets 25 percent of casino slot revenue and the city in turn gets 25 percent of the state's share. There is a pending state senate bill to change the revenue formula but time is ticking on this year's legislative calendar in Albany.
City officials are just as pleased as the Seneca leaders and casino managers because it means an addition to the city's take of the slot machine revenue which currently amounts to just over six million dollars a year. City Comptroller Mark Schroeder says "At some point in time that six million dollars will grow to a larger number once the expansion begins to really start working."
So far the city has received $34.7 Million dollars from the city host agreement as part of the state agreement. And it goes to the general fund as Mayor Brown says "It gives us the ability to focus on continuing economic development in the community. It also helps us to balance our budget."
There also separate side benefits to the city with $5 Million dollars from Senecas for infrastructure improvements around the casino site at Michigan and Perry Streets. And this project near the Inner Harbor and Cobblestone areas helps enhance development.
Could there be more in terms of a casino revenue share for the city? Right now the state gets 25 percent of overall casino slot revenue and the city in turn gets 25 percent of the state's share.
There is a pending state senate bill to change the revenue formula but time is ticking on this year's legislative calendar in Albany.