Tricity News
The city of Coquitlam hit the jackpot again last week with $2.3 million from Boulevard Casino. The money, for the period Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, is the 10% cut of net proceeds the city receives as “host” to the United Boulevard gambling venue. In 2006, Coquitlam collected $9 million from Boulevard — its best year since the casino opened in October 2001 after re-locating from Surrey. To date, Coquitlam has earned about $33.8 million as part of its share — 12.5% of which goes into a community capital fund for local non-profit groups and the balance into a municipal capital fund to pay for major projects such as roads and sports facilities.
Despite her initial opposition to the casino re-location, Mayor Maxine Wilson said this week the casino funding “is helping us build capacity in community organizations and we have put money into building a sustainable road renewal and infrastructure program that would see everything replaced on a 20-year cycle.” Wilson also said the city is taking part in a new group, led by the BC Lottery Corp. and the Solicitor General’s ministry, that would help problem gamblers. Last October, BCLC pitched the BC Partnership for Responsible Gambling concept to city council. BCPRG is currently active in Richmond and Vancouver. Last September, city council awarded nearly $1 million to 30 Coquitlam-based organizations. Charitable groups that help Coquitlam residents can apply for community capital funds via the city’s website (www.coquitlam.ca) starting next month.
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Accelerated Facility Development Commission (AFDC)
940 NEWS (NOV 10, 2006) (Originally Posted)
Subsequent to the end of the third quarter, the BCLC unveiled an initiative to improve the economic model of casino redevelopment in the province, which was developed in consultation with casino service providers to recognize the recent significant increases in development costs. The initiative provides for an additional FDC amount equal to 2% of the gross win from the redeveloped casino property on projects approved by the BCLC after July 1, 2006, which will be payable weekly beginning on the later of April 1, 2007 or the opening of the redeveloped property. The AFDC is a one-time initiative that is limited to the initial redevelopment of a property.
Once the approved eligible costs of the redevelopment are recovered through the existing FDC and the AFDC, the service provider is no longer eligible for AFDC on the project.The AFDC will apply to both the Burnaby redevelopment and the potential Lake City redevelopments. Although the Burnaby redevelopment was approved prior to July 1, 2006, the Fund has received confirmation that the project is eligible for AFDC. Accordingly, beginning with the opening of the new casino in late spring 2008, the Fund will receive total FDC for Burnaby equal to 5% of the gross win from the new casino. Once all approved eligible costs have been recovered, FDC will accumulate at a rate of 3% of gross revenue, to be applied against future eligible approved expenditures. Management anticipates that the implementation of AFDC will reduce the recovery period on the Burnaby redevelopment by approximately five years.
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