California Casino Study Results Revealed

As reported by the Amador Ledger Dispatch: "A nine-month study of a casino's potential impacts on Plymouth's infrastructure came to a rough end number last Thursday when a consultant said the toll on the city of 1,050 people could run as high as $13.4 million.

"Gary Goelitz, vice president of Matrix Consulting Engineers, told the Plymouth City Council the estimated impacts a proposed world-class Indian casino and hotel facility could have on the city, after his company studied the Ione Band of Miwok Indians' proposed casino using only an Environmental Impact Statement prepared by the tribe's own engineers, Toma & Anderson.

"…Goelitz would not divulge the size of the casino as listed in EIS plans used in the Matrix study. But he said that its size relative to existing casinos and lack of ground water, meant that the casino would need to resort to surface water provided by an Amador Water Agency pipeline.

"He said the casino's size, and the fact that it would serve alcohol in many areas of its facility, would require an 11-member police department with a $1.1 million operating budget and a start-up cost of $600,000. He based the finding on an existing contract with the Amador County Sheriff's Office, for $118,000 a year…"