Tag Archives: CEO of Greenetrack

Eutaw City Council agrees to purchase E-911 building

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Mayor Latasha Johnson presents Juneteenth proclamation to Luther ‘Nat’ Winn, Greenetrack CEO

 

The Eutaw City Council met for its second Tuesday regular meeting on
June 14, 2022. All council members and the mayor were present for the meeting.

The Council agreed to purchase the building on Prairie Avenue, diagonally across the street from the Eutaw City Hall, currently occupied by the E-911 emergency dispatching service. The building will be purchased for $45.000 in four payments of $11,250 over the coming year from Addigene G. Harbor, the current owner. The building will be used for additional office and meeting space for the city, when E-911 moves to its new office on Highway 43.

The Eutaw City Council voted to approve a one-time longevity bonus for retirees from the city which requires a small additional contribution from the city to the State Retirement Agency.

The City Council approved an $1,100 work order for city engineers to do the required annual safety inspection of bridges in the city limits.

The City Council approved requests from Chief of Police, Tommy Johnson for purchase of two Four-Wheeler to use for police work in case of floods, like the recent storms in Branch Heights and to search missing persons in wooded areas; and approved holding the 2nd Annual First Responders Parade on June 30, 2022.

Also approved by the Council was purchasing a new John Deere Backhoe Loader-4WD, for the approximate cost of $100,000, in the next year’s budget; approved payment of bills and claims; and authorized a contract to Pastor Construction company for less than $50,000, to repair the culvert under Springfield Avenue, rip-rap the creek bank and repair the curbing, at a site behind City Hall.

The Eutaw City Council voted to approve a proclamation honoring Juneteenth and approved celebrating the national holiday, commemorating the end of slavery in the U.S. in Galveston, Texas in 1865. Mayor Johnson presented the proclamation to Luther “Nat” Winn, CEO of Greenetrack that is holding several events to honor Juneteenth.

In her remarks, Mayor Latasha Johnson said that ADEM has stopped the City of Eutaw from burning trash collected from city streets like tree limbs, old furniture, mattresses and other materials. “We do not have a city landfill to dispose of large garbage items. We have several dumpsters behind City Hall but it is expensive to get them emptied and serviced. We also do not have a dump truck to transport excess materials to a landfill. We may need to consider adding $2 or $3 as a fee, added to our water bills, to handle the trash that people take out of their houses and set on the streets.”

The Mayor said the city was considering purchasing a heavy-duty chipper to chip up tree limbs and similar waste left in the city.

Chief Tommy Johnson reported that the body of Officer Croom was driven through the city on its way from Meridian, Mississippi, where he was killed to his final resting place in his hometown of Tuscaloosa. Croom served for a short time as a member of the Eutaw Police Force. Other council members commented on road and street problems as well as burned out houses that the city needs to condemn.

Coronavirus impacts Greene County

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As of press time on Wednesday morning, Alabama was reporting 283 cases, with Jefferson County leading the state with 99 cases. No deaths are reported yet in Alabama.
The virus is now infecting people in 28 of Alabama’s 67 counties. Interestingly, there are no confirmed cases reported yet in Greene County and in 11 of the 12 rural counties of the Alabama ‘Black Belt’, Pickens County reported its first case this morning. This may be because it is very difficult to get a test to confirm the virus.
The coronavirus is most prevalent in urban communities of the state like Birmingham, Huntsville, Montgomery, Tuscaloosa and Mobile. There is no guarantee that it has not already or will not spread to rural areas and communities around the state.
New protocols require that testing be restricted to those with virus symptoms, referred by a doctor, heath care workers who may have been exposed, the elderly, living in nursing homes and others who can prove exposure to someone with the coronavirus.
The coronavirus led to the closing of the four operating electronic bingo establishments in Greene County on March 16, 2020 because attendance in these places exceeded the state’s health department rules for safety and distance.
Luther Winn, CEO of Greenetrack said, “We are following state health department guidance and will not reopen bingo or simulcasting until we are allowed. We have paid our staff last week and this week. We hope the Congressional stimulus package or unemployment will help us in the coming period.”
Asked if electronic bingo will pay monthly fees to charities, county and municipal agencies, the hospital and school board, Winn said, “the revenues are not available to continue these fee payments, until we can re-open. All resources are going to employees and continued security.”
In speaking with representatives of the charities at other bingo establishments, they said they agreed with Winn’s assessment and statements. They said once bingo reopens there may be a way to help restore the lost funds, from the per machine assessments, over time.
The City of Eutaw has closed the Carver School and Community Center and the National Guard Armory to all community activities. City Hall is operating with a reduced staff. The regular City Council meeting held on the fourth Tuesday of the month has been cancelled.
Mayor Raymond Steele said, “The City employees are continuing to work to assure basic water, sewer and street repair services to the residents. We have been continuing to improve our water services and get our meters and billing system updated. We are working with people who received very high bills to find leaks and negotiate suitable payment plans. Residents with problems should bring them to the attention of the Mayor and water department.”
Many small businesses have closed or reduced hours and those businesses like fast food, the drug store and banks that have drive-through windows are using them in preference to allowing people into stores.
The Greene County Health System including the Hospital, Nursing Home and Physicians Clinic are still open. The staff is taking temperatures and administering a survey to all who come. No visitors are allowed in the Nursing Home to protect residents although cell phones have been provided for voice and ‘facetime’ visits with residents. If you are sick and showing symptoms of the virus, you are asked to call ahead to make an appointment with the medical staff at the Greene County Physicians Clinic, so the proper precautions can be taken to protect staff and other patients.

Greenetrack wins major victory for gaming in Greene County by recent decision of the Alabama Tax Tribunal

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By: John Zippert, Co-Publisher

On August 29, 2019, Jeff Patterson, Chief Judge for the Alabama Tax Tribunal rendered a decision voiding over $75 million in sales taxes and $746.292 in consumer use taxes claimed by the State of Alabama against Greenetrack, Inc.
These taxes and interest were imposed by the State of Alabama after an audit for the period January 2004 to December 2008 and related solely to bingo operations at the taxpayer’s facility – Greenetrack.
Luther ‘Nat’ Winn, CEO of Greenetrack, in an interview with this reporter, said, “We are pleased that the Tax Tribunal, headed by a judge, appointed by Governor Kay Ivey, took an objective view of this matter and gave us a fair hearing on the law and the merits of our case.”
“This matter has been going on for over a decade and we are pleased to see it ended in our favor. Gov. Bob Riley conducted the original tax audit as part of his efforts to closedown Greenetrack and electronic bingo in Greene County,” added Winn
The thirteen page analysis and decision of the Alabama Tax Tribunal reviews the history of Greenetrack’s exemption from sales tax on gaming, starting with dog racing
and continuing to include simulcasting of dog and horse races as well as gaming through electronic bingo, which was the subject of the tax liability that was in dispute.
The original legislation, Act 1975-376, allowing dog racing at Greenetrack imposed various license fees and taxes by the Greene County Racing Commission, also included Section 16, which stated “the license fees, commissions and excise taxes imposed herein shall be in lieu of all license, excise and occupational taxes to the State of Alabama.”

Greenetrack relied on the exemption specified in Section 16 to cover all gaming activities including bingo, which has grown to be the largest part of its revenues.The Tax Tribunal also cites later tax legislation, passed by the Alabama Legislature in 1986, which imposed sales taxes on merchandise, food and beverages sold at dog racetracks within the state. This legislation imposed other occupational, income and ad valorem property taxes on dog tracks but specifically exempted sales tax on admissions and the wagering handle at these facilities.
The Tax Tribunal in its decision voiding the sales taxes imposed on bingo gaming in Greene County said that it was not a legislative body and could not “displace the legislature by amending statutes to make them express what we think the legislature should have done.”
At the end of his decision, Jeff Patterson, chief Judge of the Alabama Tax Tribunal, gives the State of Alabama thirty (30) days to appeal its decision to the Circuit Court. When asked if he expected the State of Alabama to appeal, Winn said, “I cannot speak for the State but I hope they will not appeal and have confidence in the decision of their Department of Revenue administrative judges.”
Knowledgeable observers of the bingo battles between the State of Alabama, Greenetrack and other bingo operators feel this is a great victory that could have imposed retroactive sales taxes on gaming in Greene County that would have closed down this tourist industry, which is providing jobs and fee revenues to government agencies, municipalities, education, healthcare and other services in the county.

State House Committee holds hearing on bill to change Amendment 743 for bingo in Greene County

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News Analysis
by: John Zippert, Co-Publisher

Twenty persons, mostly from Greene County, testified at Tuesday’s hearing before the Alabama House Committee on Economic and Tourism Development in Montgomery. The hearing room was packed with Mayors, County Commissioners and community leaders from Greene County.
The hearing was chaired by Representative Becky Nordgren of Calhoun County, north of Anniston. About half of the seats for the committee were filled.
The public hearing was to get input from people concerning SB321, proposed by Senator Bobby Singleton, and HB545, proposed by Rep. A. J. McCampbell, which would repeal Greene County’s current Constitutional Amendment 743 and replace it with a new system to regulate and administer gaming in Greene County. These bills would substitute a five member racing commission, named by the Legislative Delegation, for the Sheriff who currently regulates bingo in Greene County.
These bills would also change electronic bingo from charitable sponsors to allow any entity, including for-profit businesses, to qualify to be licensed to operate bingo in Greene County. The bill would establish a tax based on the gaming gross revenues as a means of supporting municipalities, government agencies, education, the hospital and other agencies currently receiving distributions from electronic bingo in Greene County. There would be a 2% tax to the State of Alabama and a 10% tax to the Greene County Gaming Commission and a formula for the distribution of those funds.
The legislation does not indicate how many bingo licenses could be issued by the new Greene County Gaming Commission and no guarantee that the current license holders would receive priority or automatic consideration for renewal under these bills. There is an unstated belief that this entire effort to rewrite the Greene County gaming Constitutional Amendment is designed to allow for only one license to be issued by the new commission to Greenetrack, which was the situation prior to the election of Sheriff Joe Benison in 2010. One positive result of adopting these changes would be to create more transparency about the ownership of the bingo licenses granted in Greene County and the gross amount of money coming through electronic bingo in Greene County. The tax provisions of the new bills would reveal the gross revenues generated by gaming in the county. We currently do not know the actual and accurate amount of funds generated in Greene County by electronic bingo.
The publishers of the Greene County Democrat have been interested in publishing this information for the public since the onset of bingo in the county. We have been denied this information as being proprietary (a private secret) of bingo operators. In the materials issued on both sides of the debate on these bills, the estimated gross gaming revenues have been cited as between $30 and $99 million annually.
Speakers at Hearing
At the hearing four speakers spoke in favor of passing the SB321 and HB545 including Representative A. J. McCampbell,
Luther Winn, CEO of Greenetrack, Beverly Gordon of Greenetrack and former Probate Judge Julia Spree.
Rep. McCampbell said that his bill, HB545, would provide more “permanency for bingo in Greene County and better define electronic bingo under the laws of Alabama. It also provides for a five member gaming commission which would be better than one person making all the decisions.”
Luther Winn, CEO of Greenetrack spent most of his remarks questioning a postcard that was sent to Greene County residents opposing the bills. Winn said the Sheriff was not truthful about the funds from bingo and said based on marketing studies he had reviewed that $62 million would be available and all of the current recipients of funds would receive the same or more funds.
Beverly Gordon echoed these remarks and said, “We are trying to help Greene County not hurt Greene County. We are not against the Sheriff but we are trying to help him do his job better. Former Judge Spree said having a five-member commission would be more efficient, offer more transparency about revenue generation and allow the Sheriff to devote full time to law enforcement and not divide his time as the bingo regulator.
Rev. James Carter of Tishabee, a local businessman and former Commissioner, questioned, “whether SB321 or HB545 were ever local bills since they have never been discussed at public meetings or were run in the newspaper, before they were introduced in Montgomery. While I do not see eye to eye with Sheriff Benison on every issue, he was elected three times overwhelmingly by the people of Greene County to operate bingo in the county among his many duties.”
Mayors and council members from various Greene County communities spoke on the benefits of Constitutional Amendment 743 to their municipalities and were opposed to making any changes. Mayor Charlie McCalpine of Forkland said,
“This is not a local bill, it seems to be a private bill. We have enjoyed the benefits of 743 and done many things for the people in our community.”
Mayor James Gaines of Union said until the Sheriff instituted new rules the Town of Union was not getting funding from bingo on a regular basis but since the changes the city has had matching funds for a storm shelter and a housing rehab program for senior citizens. “ We know what we have but we don’t know what we are going to get with these new bills,” said the Mayor.
Sharon Washington, speaking for the Town of Boligee said, “We opposes these bills because they were not discussed in Greene County before they were introduced in Montgomery.”
County Commissioner Cockrell, who is connected with one of the charities at Rivers Edge Bingo, said “These bills will cripple Greene County Commission and the municipalities because it does not guarantee Bingo the same amount of funds as Amendment 743. Why fix something that is not broken.”
County Commissioner Turner, who is also, connected to Rivers Edge Bingo, said, “The County Commission has earmarked funds from bingo for infrastructure and we have given scholarships in my District. We oppose these bills because we do not know how this will turn out.”
Sandra Walker of Greene County said, “We support the Sheriff. We voted for him and elected him to oversee bingo. We do not know who will be appointed to this new gaming commission, so we do not support these bills.”
John Zippert, speaking as Chair of the Hospital Board, said that he is concerned about the impact of the two bills. “We could support these bills if they were amended to provide more protection for electronic bingo in Greene County, if the current bingo licensees were ‘grand-farther –in’ and protected to continue and if there were provisions to guarantee that the current beneficiaries of bingo received the same or greater payments, under these bills.”
Former Governor Jim Folsom said he was concerned about the impact of these bills on Greene County’s finances. In his remarks, he said, “None of the Legislators who represent Greene County and would pick the new gaming commission actually live in Greene County. The potential that for profit entities could be licensed to operate bingo in Greene County is a major change that has statewide implications. You might want to leave the existing charitable agencies operating bingo in place.
At the conclusion of the public hearing, Rep. Nordgren said, “We will not vote on this today. We also need to see how other related legislation on the statewide lottery and bingo in Macon County work out before we make a decision on these bills.”

Solidarity meeting held to support electronic bingo in Greene County

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Nat WinnGreenetrack CEO Luther “Nat” Winn addresses Solidarity meeting

 

On Tuesday, November 21, the Black-Belt Solidarity Committee held a meeting at the Eutaw National Guard Armory in support of Greene County Constitutional Amendment 743 authorizing electronic bingo in Greene County. The Solidarity Meeting Committee consisting of Val Goodson, Beverly Gordon and Patricia Edmonds sponsored the meeting.
Two hundred supporters of bingo attended and heard statements from community political and organizational leaders in support of electronic bingo and its benefits to the community.
The meeting was held in response to a recent lawsuit filed by Alabama Attorney General Mike Marshall to stop bingo in five counties around the state including Greene, Lowndes, Macon, Morgan and Houston where bingo has been authorized by voter support of Constitutional amendments.

Sheriff Joe Benison spoke and said he enjoys serving the people of Greene County with his staff of 34 employees and encouraged unity in the face of the attack on bingo by the Attorney General.
Hodges Smith speaking on behalf of the Greene County Volunteer Fire Associations said, “ Before bingo, we had to raise money for fire trucks and other equipment selling hot dogs and hamburgers. It was very difficult and we could not get all of the up to date equipment we needed. We do not want to be pushed backwards into the dark ages again. We need to stand together for bingo.”
Johnny Isaac, Chair of the E-911 Board also spoke in favor of bingo and the need for unity in view of the attack on Amendment 743.
John Zippert, Chair of the Greene County Health Systems Board of Directors said, “We received a distribution of $39,375, for the month of October, from four of the five bingo establishment this week which helped the hospital to meet payroll and expenses to continue to provide health services in Greene County to people who do not have any insurance.”
Mayor Raymond Steele spoke of the benefits of gaming to the City of Eutaw and other municipalities in the county that receive bingo funds. County Commissioner Allen Turner reported that the County Commission used bingo funds to match Federal funds for road and bridge repairs, which stretched the funds and made them to further to help the people of Greene County.
Luther ‘Nat’ Winn, CEO of Greenetrack said he was pleased to see people standing together to protect what we have. “I hope this sends a message to AG Marshall not to come to disrupt the jobs and economic progress we have made through electronic bingo.” Winn continued, “ I want you to know that we are not going to close our operations this time. If the state comes, I for one am going to stand in the doorway of Greenetrack and stop the State of Alabama from disrupting a gaming industry that employs hundreds and supports the county agencies and schools of Greene County. This is a part of our voting rights and civil rights and we are not giving up without a fight.”
Commissioner Marcus Campbell of Sumter County and Probate Judge Crawford of Hale County also spoke in support of unity to keep Greene County bingo working because it provides employment and other benefits to residents of their adjoining counties.
The Solidarity meeting was adjourned and a monthly Greene County Fire Association meeting went forward.