Perryville Cashes in With Casino Funds

During Tuesday's public hearing on Perryville's proposed budget, Director of Finance Rachel Deaner made several references to grants from Hollywood Casino.

That's because Hollywood Casino Perryville is contributing $1,764,689 to the town's $8,133,539 budget for FY 2014.

That money is disbursed through "local impact grants," a state-regulated program that provides Perryville with a monthly check with a percentage of the money generated by slots.

Hollywood's local impact grants support a variety of community initiatives, from purchasing police cars to supporting a youth program in Perryville.

In addition, the grants are going into a fund for the new town hall.

"We know we're a ways from it so what we've done is set up an account so that each year some of that money from the casino goes to this project," Mayor Jim Eberhardt said.

He said the project has been "on the books for years" because the building on Broad Street is obsolete and there is a need for a community center.

"We are in a 1926 renovated fire hall," Eberhardt said of the Perryville Town Hall. "Even the firehouse got a new building 40 years ago, and frankly we've had asbestos issues, we've had mold issues, furnace issues..."

Of the plan, which is just a vision at this point, Eberhardt said: "It's really a town center complex with a recreation center, so we'd have police, town hall, baseball field," Eberhardt said, gesturing to the space between Broad Street and Otsego Street.

According to Deaner, the town will have more than $500,000 as of FY 2014 to put toward the project, which has not been commissioned for a design as of yet.

First, the police department is being designed, and those plans should come forward within the next year, the mayor said.