MONTICELLO – The future Resorts World Catskills casino is paying $3 million toward the replacement of the village’s rusting 70-year-old water tank.
“It’s another win for Monticello,” said Mayor Doug Solomon, who credited Village Manager David Sager "for brokering that good deal" in which the municipality will use bonds to cover only $750,000 of the $3.75 million project.
Replacing the 150,000-gallon tank, located along West Broadway behind Tilly’s Diner, is a critical step for the $1.2 billion Resorts World Catskills casino and entertainment complex, which is expected to open March 1.
Upgrading to a 2.5-million-gallon tank will provide the necessary water capacity for the casino to obtain permits from the state’s departments of Environmental Conservation and Health.
Workers from DN Tanks of Wakefield, Mass., and project engineers from Barton & Loguidice of Ellenville began work last month, with an expected late November finish date.
The existing tank serves one-third of the 6,800-resident village, including West Broadway, Route 42 leading to Monticello High School and nearby homes.
The project is one of a series of infrastructure improvements the village is undertaking as it looks to the casino as a potential driver of growth.
A $7.3 million project to replace two more water tanks will begin next spring and end by early fall 2018.
The village will pay for those with 38-year low-interest loans and a $1.8 million U.S. Department of Agriculture grant for rural development in underserved communities.
The village also recently finished a $20.5 million sewer plant upgrade with another USDA grant covering nearly $12 million, while Monticello took out $8.5 million in 38-year low-interest loans.
Sager thinks the casino project bodes well for Monticello. A total of 2,200 jobs are projected for Resorts World Catskills’ resort casino, hotels and golf course, and a nearby indoor water park due to open in spring 2019.
“I can go street by street in Monticello and name the families that worked at the (former Sullivan County) hotels and raised kids,” said Sager.
“Those jobs disappeared. But I think you’ll see people coming back, looking for reasonably priced real estate close to their jobs. People say, ‘Well, you don’t have the workforce.’ But it was here at one point in time, and now it’s a process of regeneration.”
Mayor Solomon is cautiously optimistic about the potential of the casino and the ancillary business it could attract.
“I’m hoping for a resurgence,” said Solomon. “The village is fiscally in distress. There’s a lack of single-family home ownership. There’s a lack of resident ownership, with a lot of absentee landlords, and the deterioration of neighborhoods.”'
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