After a year hiatus, the state will again distribute grants to north state agencies to compensate for the impacts of Win-River Casino.

Although the Redding Rancheria paid $652,552 into the state's Indian Gaming Special Distribution Fund last year, it didn't receive any grant money back from the state for local distribution, said Tracy Edwards, CEO of the Redding Rancheria.

"It did not happen last year," Edwards said.

The state held the grants to local government agencies because other recipients coffers outlined by the 1999 law that established the fund took priority, said H.D. Palmer, spokesman for the state Department of Finance.
"There are three other programs related to the distribution of funds that have priority over the mitigation grants," Palmer said.

Those programs give money for tribes that don't have casinos, state gambling problem prevention and state agencies that regulate Indian gaming.
While there's money for the impact grants this year, Palmer said its too soon to know whether there will be next year.

It's the second time in the last five years that agencies in Shasta County didn't receive grants from the state, said Angela Davis, administrative analyst for Shasta County. When the grants do come, she said they usually total about $500,000.

Grants this year went to the Shasta County Sheriff's Office, city of Redding, Shasta County District Attorney's Office, Redding Police Department and Redding Fire Department, and others. Davis said the state sent the grant checks in late May and early June.

There are 15 grants in all this year, representing $517,031 in funding, Davis said.
Each year the county takes in applications for the grants and doles them out, with the Local Community Benefit Committee deciding who receives the money. The committee comprises leaders from Redding Rancheria, the city and county.
Davis said the grants have to compensate for an impact created by the casino, such as more traffic or crime.

"There are some pretty stringent requirements from the state," she said.
This year the committee selected the winning grants from 25 requests, totaling $1.25 million, Davis said. Among the grants the committee selected were $130,000 for the district attorney's office to pay for a prosecutor focused on casino crime, $55,000 to the sheriff's office for mobile computers and $75,000 to police for financial crimes investigation.

Applications rejected by the committee include $175,000 to the Redding Fire Department for a breathing support unit, $50,000 to Redding Police for drunken driver patrols, and $15,000 to the sheriff's office for stun guns, Davis said.
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