Mentor Public Schools Receiving Money From Casino Taxes But Effect May Be Negligible

Mentor Public Schools will soon receive $166,816.15 in taxes from the state’s new casinos.

However, this money may not impact the district's bottom line.

Mentor Schools CFO Daniel Wilson is concerned that -- despite any casino money -- the district will still be dealing with shrinking revenue overall.

"We did not budget this as core revenue for this year," Wilson explained.

He said the casino tax money has been earmarked for improvements to instructional technologoy. However, that use may change depending on what the governor's proposed 2-year budget looks like.

Wilson said he would not be surprised if the district saw the same thing happen to the casino tax money that occurred to the lottery funds. That is, to say, the increase from the casinos will have a corresponding funding cut elsewhere so the school district does not end up ahead.

Figures for this first set of casino tax payments were released earlier this week.

The Plain Dealer reports that the state is passing out more than $37.9 million in casino taxes to schools and districts across Ohio. Schools will receive their payments—based on enrollment—in January and August each year.

Auburn Career Center is also slated to receive $13,306.79 from the casino tax.

However, public school districts will not know if they will see an overall bump in their funding from the state until the Ohio legislature passes its next 2-year budget, Wilson said.