ROSSFORD, OH (Toledo News Now) - An incentive for allowing casinos to open in Ohio was the distribution of state revenue from them to local school districts. Now some districts say they are not receiving what was expected.
Rossford Schools is one district not receiving the amount of money that was expected from the state revenue.
"We were looking for revenue somewhere in the neighborhood of $235,000-237,000," said James Rossler, treasurer of Rossford Schools.
Rossler said the actual amount coming in is significantly less than what was initially estimated.
The first distribution of two for the year was just under $40,000. If the second is about the same, they will have received only about $80,000 for the year.
"One of the biggest things is perception from the people in the public," he said. "That the lottery money and casino money were going to be the saviors that were going to come in and keep us from being on the ballot and going back to the public for money. And quite frankly, that's not what this is doing."
Rossford isn't the only district receiving less money. Rossler said the Toledo district's first distribution was $462,000, they're projected total for the year would be about $1.2 million, but they were estimated to receive $3.3 million.
Rossler said luckily Rossford Schools did not budget the casino revenue into their funds, but other districts may have.
