Construction Resumes for New Hollywood Slots Casino in Maine
Construction was temporarily halted on the $131 million gaming and hotel complex along the Bangor waterfront when the state legislature's appropriations panel started talking about "raising Penn National's taxes" to help balance the government's budget deficit. But, late Monday evening the committee rejected the proposal to raise taxes.Bangor Mayor Richard Green said he is satisfied now that lawmakers have distanced themselves from the proposal and hopes they won't go consider the idea again.
"I think the next step is to give Penn some assurance as well as any other business coming to town that when you have a deal, when you give your word it's not on the table for budget negotiations at the legislative level," said Mayor Green.
|
Vegas Casino Online brings the best progressive online casino games to your home,office or your preferred place to be. |
Back on the Job
On Wednesday, the construction site which had sat idle for a week showed significant signs of life. A dozen of the 50 or workers employed on the project were back on the job pouring concrete and moving the earth trying to stay on target for a June 2008 opening of the permanent slots facility. Some new hires are planned. Some of the crew moved on to other jobs during the construction delay.There is talk that some kind of changes may be forthcoming from the government -- unless the casino can assure policymakers of what the level of revenue, and likely taxes, is to be from the new casino.
"We all believe that there is room for improvement of the current arrangement, though what direction that will take hasn’t been decided," David Farmer, spokesman for Governor Baldacci, said. "There are options out there that might benefit both the state and Penn National, and it’s just a matter of deciding what’s best for everybody," Farmer said.
Those options include changing state law "so that we won’t have to replay this drama year after year," said Farmer. "People are still talking," Farmer said. "We’ve gotten people back to work. That was a good-faith gesture on the part of both Penn National and state officials."
Penn is still in the process of sitting down with legislators, according to company spokesman Eric Schippers. Schippers said the company did not have any "specific details" with regard to the reassurances the government is seeking.
Penn National, parent company of the Hollywood Slots project, currently operates 475 slots out of a temporary facility in the old Miller’s Restaurant building a short walk away from the construction site, but is authorized to run up to 1,500 slots at the new casino, more than three times its current capacity. The new casino is on an eight acre lot, across from Bass Park, in downtown Bangor, the company said.
© Copyright 2007 Online Casino Crawler This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Comments
1 Comments
0 Trackbacks
