How St. Charles went from 'no' to 'yes' on video gambling

St. Charles will be the next local community to legalize video gambling. The reasons are more about what city officials fear losing than what may be gained.

A preliminary vote by aldermen Monday night showed a 5-5 split on the idea of lifting the city's ban on video gambling. That alone was a major change from just last year, when aldermen said they didn't even want to discuss it.

Now, Mayor Ray Rogina is set to cast the tiebreaking vote in two weeks in favor of cashing in on video gambling.

The groundwork for the legalization of video gambling in St. Charles began in May, when aldermen began addressing a pending loss of $1.6 million in state income tax, threatened by the state budget crisis. Aldermen slashed 10 percent of the funding for local nonprofits, which saved only $100,000. A wake-up call that it wouldn't be enough came soon after.

In late spring, the state stopped paying the city its share of gasoline taxes, or about $30,000 per month.

"That's when I started to realize this is a real thing," Alderman Dan Stellato said.

He worked through the implications: cutting programs, staffing and all outside funding. As there would probably be no money to finance crucial flood control improvements in his First Ward, Stellato opened his mind to new revenue sources.

"Would you rather have video gaming, or would you rather have us cut the spring cleaning pickup? When I started to ask that question around town, the answers were, 'Video gaming doesn't bother me that much,'" he said,

Stellato's 2010 "no" vote on video gambling turned into a "yes."

In another part of town, Alderman William Turner was hearing a familiar drumbeat. His Third Ward contains some of the older parts of the city and some of the longest-tenured residents. They were seeing the assessed value of their homes increase for the first time in years. They were reading about the school district increasing its tax levy again. The city raised utility bill rates. Residents told Turner their Social Security checks couldn't keep pace.

"I looked at that and I just thought, 'We're going to leave all this (video gambling) money on the table just because we are scared about our image?'" Turner said. "We're supposed to keep taking people's money and just tell them, 'Too bad?' I am more worried about the people who can't afford to live here anymore than the few that might have a problem with gambling."

Art Lemke also was troubled by the loss of state money. But he also knew he'd get an earful from his fellow Second Ward alderman, Rita Payleitner, if he supported video gambling. Payleitner has been one of its most vocal opponents since the council first voted on the issue five years ago.

"Let's just say she spoke to me," Lemke said.

So he started seeking middle ground. When the city staff concocted a plan to have video gambling automatically sunset in three years, he thought he'd found it. Then, when administrators also said aldermen could restrict or ban video gambling signage, Lemke leaned even more in favor of giving it a trial.

But it was the ongoing concerns about the city's image, the "No. 1 city for families" banners flying around town, that got him thinking: He simply couldn't buy the idea that a few machines in the back of local bars and restaurants would destroy that image.

"It's a business issue, not an image issue," Lemke said. "I don't find that I'm afraid to go to, say, Loves Park because they have video gambling. Many other communities have this, and I don't think the state has become any more immoral. If we find this is so distasteful, the sunset clause will take effect."

Aldermen Todd Bancroft and Ed Bessner could not be immediately reached for comment Tuesday. Adding their two "yes" votes, as they cast Monday night, to those of Stellato, Turner and Lemke equals five aldermen in favor of lifting the ban.

The five other aldermen are expected to cast "no" votes. If that 5-5 tie comes to pass, Rogina would break it with a solid "yes."

Rogina, too, is convinced the loss of state funds is real. He hears that thinking echoed by mayors and city managers throughout the West suburbs.

"Everybody is on pins and needles with the thinking in Springfield that local governments don't need the state income tax money," Rogina said. "My thinking on video gaming has evolved on exactly that point."

There's no denying video gambling has helped the businesses that have the machines, Rogina said. Likewise, it's helped the bottom lines of the communities those businesses are in.

"People ask my why we're proposing legalizing it if it only means we get $100,000 of new revenue," Rogina said. "Maybe it's even lower. Maybe it's as high as $500,000. Either way, that's not a small amount of money. And, right now, I think we have to consider everything."

Rogina said video gambling won't be the only remedy if the state income tax proceeds vanish from city coffers. But it's a start. He's committed to not increasing the city's portion of local property tax bills.

"Aldermen want no part of increases there," Rogina said. "And, to me, that is almost sacred."

Having thriving existing businesses is another piece. Attracting new business is another.

Rogina said he's not eyeing his tiebreaker vote as something that may define his first term as mayor.

"I don't view myself as the man who made the ultimate decision on this," he said. "But if the public looks at me and says, 'You're the one that caused it,' that's their right to do that."