11-25-2002 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2002 • 3. Charitable Gambling Ordinance Proposed Revisions— Continued White stated that he approved of the 10% tax. The MS Society has many avenues for fund raising. He suggested that the City make an annual fund from the pull -tab revenues and then decide each year what to do with the funds, including possibly donating some back to the MS Society. Nygard stated he favored the tax. Sansevere stated he was interested in White's idea of donating back to the MS Society. Gappa stated that once the City receives the money, it is required to use it on lawful expenditures, and that donating it back would probably not be lawful. Ilse stated that the Parks Commission is in debt because they borrowed against the future Park's budget. She stated that they are embarrassed to compare Orono's parks to those of other cities. Murphy asked if they have any budget allocation for the parks. Moorse stated they have a parks maintenance budget, and a $5,000 annual levy for capital items, plus park dedication fees. • Sansevere asked if the Council has ever denied the Parks funding. McDermott stated that the Navarre budget got cut and they had to back afterwards to put in things that were requested by the community. They had to get loans to purchase the Larson -Sohns property and Hackberry equipment. He stated there are not many large subdivisions left in Orono, and the Parks Commission is $100,000 in debt. Mayor Peterson stated they should budget more funding for the parks because the subdivision won't last. McDermott stated most cities budget $40- 100,000 for their parks each year. Moorse stated that the last couple of years the City had been under levy limits. Murphy suggested taking money from a different budget and moving it to the parks budget. Barrett stated that on page 5 of the packet, item 3, it stated that the City was allowed fo use the 10% to contribute to charitable organizations. Gappa stated that it also said, "A contribution may not be made to an organization licensed to conduct lawful gambling that- contributed to the fund." So the City would not be able to give back to the MS Society. Murphy suggested the City match 10% of the charitable gambling profits, instead of taxing the charities, and then budget it into the Parks fund. White suggested they pass the ordinance to have it in place for future gambling operations • and then opt to waive the tax. Barrett stated he would be concerned by such a system in