Parish President Kevin Davis’ proposal to use a riverboat casino as a way to attract people to an entertainment district on the lakefront just south of Slidell is no longer a viable option, Davis said Friday.

The casino idea, which came to light late last year, has caused quite a bit of controversy and debate among parish residents. Davis said he came up with the idea as a way to lower property taxes for homeowners by using revenues gathered from the casino. He said the casino would only be used as a way to attract visitors that could help pay for an entertainment complex that would include hotels, shops, a convention center and venues for world-class entertainers. He has also proposed getting the Audubon Institute to build some sort of exhibit or museum that would showcase Louisiana wildlife as another lure for visitors.

However, Davis said in a press release Friday that his research has shown it is not possible for gambling revenues to be used legally to offset high property taxes. “I made it very clear that I could only support this project if it was tied into a reduction of property taxes,” Davis said in the statement. “I am told by our attorneys now that there is not a responsible way for this to be done. As a result, I will not continue with the project in its present form.”

Davis’ statement included a letter from attorney Grant Schlueter, who handles the parish’s legal matters. Schlueter had asked the Louisiana Legislative Auditor about the legality of using a casino’s revenue as way to reduce the parish’s ad valorem tax, or property tax, while at the same time maintaining the maximum tax rate to keep the parish government operating.

By state law, the state government sets the tax rate that a parish can levy for property taxes. This is called the Constitutional tax. Parish spokesperson Suzanne Parsons Stymiest said under this law the parish currently collects about $3 million in property taxes that go to running the government.

The auditor told Schlueter using the casino revenues to reduce the property tax rate would create a new legal maximum tax rate. This would mean that if casino revenue fell, the new maximum rate would decrease as well and not be sufficient to fund the parish government. The parish would then have to raise the tax rate, which would mean public approval and the creation of a whole new tax rate, which might violate the legal rate set by the state government.

“If revenues from the entertainment complex decline and if the parish lowered its legal maximum tax rate,” Schlueter wrote in his letter, “there is no guaranty it could be raised to the prior legal maximum rate, thus putting the parish at risk of having insufficient funds to operate.”

One of the hurdles facing getting a gambling boat in the parish would be getting voter approval of gambling through a referendum. Schlueter said that if the referendum were based on using casino revenues to reduce the property tax rates, the vote could be taken to court as a violation of the state Constitution.

The idea of putting a casino in St. Tammany Parish has started a debate among residents. There has been vocal opposition to the casino. Last month a group of about 50 parish church leaders, calling itself Citizens for Quality of Life, held a press conference voicing fierce opposition to bringing a casino into the parish. There is also a history of anti-gambling sentiment here. Back in 1997, voters resoundingly defeated a proposal to allow video poker in the parish.

However, Davis contends that despite the vocal protests, the parish is evenly divided on the casino issue with slightly more residents against the casino than for it.

Included with Davis’ statement were the results of a poll done by the Northshore Business Council.

The poll showed that of a sample poll of 11,001 people, 52 percent said they visit the casinos on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Of those that go to the Mississippi casinos, 50 percent said they go for gambling, entertainment, dining and shopping, while 13 percent visit for gambling alone.

The poll found that 72 percent of the parish had heard of Davis’ entertainment district and casino proposal.

Of that 72 percent, or 5,587 respondents, 40 percent said they are in favor of a casino, 43 percent are against it, and 17 percent said they were unsure or didn’t know.

There was another poll released in late February by Tammany Together. That poll was conducted strictly online and is not scientifically designed. It had 595 respondents, and of that sample, 69 percent opposed the casino, 27 percent were for it and 4 percent had no opinion.

Davis said he has not given up on the idea of putting an entertainment district on the lakefront near Slidell. Davis said there “was overwhelming support for and entertainment district without a casino.” He hopes scrapping the casino would keep the idea of the entertainment district alive.

“It is my hope that the many voices that were heard, both pro and con for the current proposal, will unite behind a reconfigured entertainment district,” Davis said.