If Washington were a third-class county such as Erie, South Strabane and Chartiers townships would have no problem. The law provides that municipalities contiguous to the home municipality of the slots casinos in such counties have priority when the county distributes its 2 percent of the slots revenue designated for health, safety and economic development.
However, Washington is a fourth-class county and is treated differently under the law. It also has 2 percent of the revenue to distribute, but there is no provision for the casino's neighbors to get any of it. The money must go to "economic development projects, job training, community improvement projects, other projects in the public interest and reasonable administrative costs."
And to compound matters, consider that South Strabane's concern is an increased burden on its police department, but there is no specified use for "safety" as there is in larger counties. We're not sure if hiring more police would even qualify under the category of "projects in the public interest."
The Washington County Economic Development Roundtable considered the myriad requests to be recommended for a share of the $8 million in slots revenue that is to be distributed.
Those requests - from governmental and quasi-governmental agencies, community development groups and private developers - total $88 million. Rather than having any priority, South Strabane and Chartiers are simply two among the many other supplicants.
Meanwhile, North Strabane will receive $2.1 million simply because it has the good fortune to be where the slot machines sit - but just barely.
South Strabane, whose police department must deal with the increased traffic the casino generates, and Chartiers, where the Meadows sewers empty into an "interceptor," are entitled to nothing.
That would not be the case had they not had the bad luck to be part of a fourth-class county. We can only wonder why the law was written this way and why the Washington County legislative delegation didn't challenge it.