Editorial: Make casinos pay tax share

Tuesday, Sept. 28, 1999 | 9:24 a.m.

The growth is directly responsible for our clogged streets; diminished water supply; sewage treatment shortfalls; infrastructure cost; and air quality -- to name a few. Visitors, who comprise a very large fraction of our population, bathe, drink, eat, swim, and golf using our limited water supply and add to the sewage load. A large fraction of our police and fire protection as well as city and county employees service the gambling industry. Road construction and alterations are made to increase visitor access to new gambling locations. Thousands of visitors fly and drive here, further aggravating our air pollution problems. Our valley can no longer cleanse itself of its air pollution and is passing the point where it can no longer be corrected.

I'm sure that valley residents do not object to paying their fair share of growth impact costs. We need to impartially and objectively determine what those fair shares should be. The gambling industry should not object to an appraisal since they claim overpayment.

JOSEPH M. HANS

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