Casino backers step up offer

Thursday, Dec. 14, 2000 | 10:58 a.m.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

HUDSON, Wis. -- Pitching a casino project to a reluctant community, a partnership that wants to build a tribal casino at a dog track offered Tuesday to pay St. Croix County local governments more than $80 million over eight years.

The offer, $35 million more than previous revenue-sharing offers, left many local critics decrying the promised cash as a desperate attempt to salvage a doomed proposal.

The deal would pay the city of Hudson's entire local property tax levy and reduce tax bills for owners of city homes worth $100,000 by about one-third.

Former Hudson City Attorney William Radosevich said the offer was intriguing.

"Payments to local governments are ostensibly for the purpose of remediation of adverse impacts. This is a substantial amount of money. Whether it changes any opinions remains to be seen," he said.

The casino application -- made by a partnership of the Red Cliff, Sokaogon and Lac Courte Oreilles Chippewa bands and the owners of the St. Croix Meadows dog track -- is being considered for a second time by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs.

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