Wellington County will be among those supporting Centre Wellington Township as it attempts to stop a provincial proposal to remove payments to horse groups and townships that host slots.
Wellington County Warden Chris White brought the county’s department heads to council as part of its meeting with all seven lower tier municipalities. Jana Reichert also presented an economic picture of the county and Centre Wellington.
The concern for the county and township is the sudden move by the province, prompted by the Don Drummond report. He was hired by Premier Dalton McGuinty to make recommendations on how the province can slash its $16-billion deficit.
Drummond suggested the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Commission could make more money if slot machines currently in race tracks were moved or expanded to different locations “that would be more convenient and profitable. OLG would make much more money if slots were permitted elsewhere, as they should be,” the report said.
Since the 1990s, the province and the horse racing industry agreed the government will pay to locate and operate slot machines in Ontario horse racing facilities.
Centre Wellington Mayor Joanne Ross-Zuj said provincial officials have no idea how important that industry is in the rural areas, and particularly in Wellington County, which has the largest horse population per capita of any municipality in the province.
White said in a conversation prior to the meeting he is hearing the slash of pay to tracks is part of the provincial budget.
The province agreed a decade ago to pay municipalities five per cent of the profits from slots for hosting the facilities. Ross-Zuj has noted that is a business agreement and has nothing to do with a “subsidy.”
Spreading out the gaming would also dilute profits, and that could affect the township’s share.
The township and county share the revenue, with the county taking 20% of the township’s payout for its role as host county and for the expenses it had when the slots were built.
White told Centre Wellington council the county is working with it to provide facts and figures about the necessity for the payments to the horse industry to continue.
Since the slots opened in late 2003 in Elora, the two municipalities have received about $15 million as their share in the agreement. The Grand River Agricultural Society, which runs the track, has been using the cash it receives from the agreement to pay for the facility it built after the agreement with the township was put in place. The township has used its money for infrastructure improvements on roads, bridges and now a sewage treatment plant expansion.
The county has used its share on a variety of projects.
