Casino Chinatown

Riverboat Casino Tax Estimate Inaccurate

It seems that St. Mary Parish will not be receiving as much property taxes from a riverboat casino that will be moving in Amelia as originally thought.

Voters in St Mary Parish approved the relocation of the Kentucky-based Columbia Sussex Corp. operated Belle of the Orleans riverboat casino to St. Mary Parish. Thirty five percent of the voters were against the measure.

Parish officials said prior to the elections that the casino's relocation would entail a $1.5 million per year boarding fee, as well as $2 million in property taxes. A third of that figure was to be allocated to the St. Mary Parish School Board.

St. Mary Parish Chief Administrative Officer Henry "Bo" LaGrange said the estimated property tax figure was inaccurate. It turns out that the figure is based on the market value of the facility and not its assessed value.

According to LaGrange, with the renovations that will be made to the casino before its slated opening, its market value will be about $30 million.

"What we failed to do when we were discussing the $30 million was to apply the percentage to what we refer to as the assessed value," said LaGrange.

The assessed value of the property will then fall somewhere around the $4.5 million range, which would yield about $432,000 in property taxes per year.

"It was an honest misunderstanding," said LaGrange.