Bangor OKs racino revenue fund Priority use of the money would be for new auditorium, civic center

BANGOR – With Nov. 4 set as the opening date for Hollywood Slots at Bangor, city councilors Wednesday adopted a strategy for using the city’s share of the slot machine proceeds.

The priority use would be to cover the costs connected to replacing the aging Bangor Auditorium and Civic Center.

As host city for the $17 million slots facility that Penn National Gaming Inc. is opening in the former Miller’s Restaurant on Main Street, Bangor stands to take in an estimated $1.5 million during each full year of operation, according to City Manager Edward Barrett.

Barrett cautioned Wednesday that the projected revenue was the city’s best guess based on the 475 slot machines Penn National will operate at the site.

City revenue is expected to increase after Penn National builds its permanent facility, which will house up to 1,500 slot machines.

During their meeting, councilors established a racino fund to account for the receipt and use of the slot revenues, as well as priorities for using the funds.

If all goes to plan, design work on a replacement for the auditorium and civic center would start by about 2010, with construction beginning two years later, Barrett said earlier.

Other uses would include covering the capital costs for keeping the current complex going, costs associated with relocating the Bangor State Fair, reimbursing the city’s General Fund for past and current costs related to bringing the racino to Bangor, and replenishing the city’s unexpended fund balance when its balance falls below the council’s target.

The money also would fund costs resulting directly and solely from the operation of slots in Bangor, such as additional police personnel, if needed.

In other meeting business, the councilors:

. Accepted a monument to mark the spot of Bangor’s earliest Catholic cemetery at the corner of West Broadway and Buck Street. The monument, which will be put up soon, was a gift from the Cemetery Angels, a local volunteer group.

. Banned parking on the east side of Otis Street, for a distance of 230 feet from its intersection with State Street. The measure is aimed at providing residents of Otis Street easier access to their own driveways.

. Awarded a three-year contract for de-icing fluid to low bidder Octagon Process Inc. of New Jersey, which will supply the fluid at a cost of $207,000 during the first year of the agreement, and a bid for rock salt to International Salt Co. of Pennsylvania, which submitted the low bid of $52.33 a ton.

. Designated Paul and Liz Leonard tentative developers for a lot in the Maine Business Enterprise Park through Jan. 10, 2006. The Leonards want to build a 10,000-square-foot day care facility at the site.

. Approved liquor licenses for the Perrihouse Restaurant, opening later this month at 735 Main St., and the Courtyard Grille at 96 Hammond St.