At an Open House meeting held for Arcadia First! members on Saturday, Oct. 14, AF! executive director Bernetta Reade accurately informed the group that the city recently announced that is no longer operating at a deficit and expects to be in the black for at least the next couple of years, which was confirmed to Arcadia Wins! by city officials who attributed the great news to increased county and sales taxes. Reade also correctly noted that the new fire station being built on Santa Anita Ave. is funded entirely from city revenues derived from Santa Anita Park race track.
But when she vehemently pointed out that the race track is prospering and setting records at recent meets like the current Oak Tree in order to dismiss the notion that the track needs help, she started to veer into more murky territory.

* First of all, while it's nice to have enough money from the track to pay for most new city buildings, that's only a slanted view of the situation. City officials say that while revenure from Santa Anita stands at about $1.5 million per year, that's only 50% of the approximately $3 million the city used to reap from Santa Anita in the early 1990s.

* Although the track is not losing money and does continue to enjoy bigger handles on big days like the Santa Anita Derby and Santa Anita Handicap, the track is not setting records.

* And if I heard Ms. Reade correctly, she told the small gathering that the city of Arcadia gets a cut of any bet placed anywhere on races run at Santa Anita, whether placed in person at Santa Anita or placed off-track at other tracks or betting locations. This is not correct.
 
City officials told Arcadia Wins! that they only get a percentage of bets placed at the track itself, though those bets can be on any race being run anywhere, as long as it is placed at Santa Anita.
While I chose not to say anything during the meeting, choosing to show appreciation for their graciousness in inviting and welcoming me by simply being a silent observer, it is important and it is the objective for Arcadia Wins! to clarify and give a full understanding of such nuanced points.
For example, it makes a major difference whether the city benefits from any bet placed anywhere or just from bets placed at Santa Anita. Under the first scenario, there would be no advantage to the city to have more bets placed at the track itself. But the opposite is true -- the city benefits by having more people attend the track itself, both from bets and from sales tax on any merchandise or food purchased at the track. While Santa Anita gets a cut of bets placed elsewhere on races at Santa Anita, the city does not reap any revenue from off-track betting. And Santa Anita's cut of off-track betting is smaller than on-track, so they prefer larger crowds as well.

We believe that when residents understand that the city has lost half of the $3 million in annual revenue it used to enjoy from the race track each year, Arcadians will be more inclined to support a development that will more than replace that lost $1.5 million each year with more than $2 million in new sales tax revenue alone. The Shops at Santa Anita are also projected to spark increased property tax valuations that will generate more than $3 million in incremental property taxes, hundreds of thousands of dollars of which will go directly into city coffers, and additional revenue making its way to schools and other non-city services such as the county Arborteum and the Arcadia County Park.

Scott Hettrick
founder, Arcadia Wins!

 

What did you think of this article?

Liked
Disliked
No Opinion