Agenda - Council - 11/10/1992 - Laserfiche WebLink

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TO: R¥a~ Schroeder, City Administrator FROM: Wll~iam K. Goodrich, City Attorney RE: Charitable Gambling Ordinance DATE: NO~,mber 3, 1992 I am respondi, ng ~o your letter addressed to me dated October 23, 1992. In~ha~ letter, you posed the question with reference to the Cystic Fibro~i~ and A=axia Foundations, "Does national research m.et the ~,t'~t of benefit to th. Ramsey trade area?" As you ~w, iRamsey'~~ Code Section on this s~bject is §7.61.10 which Provide~ as follows: Any iliomnsed organization conducting lawful gambling with£~ ~e City shall be required to expend 75% of its expen~i=ures for lawful purposes on lawful purposes cond~te~ or located within the City's trade area to the benefit ~f the City's trade area. There is a l~ngthy definition of "lawful purposes" in the state statute. In Order to qualify for a lawful purposes expenditure, a national r~search group needs to make a contribution to an organization ,exempt from the payment of Federal income taxes. The question~then becomes, is =he exempt organization conducting business in or located within the city's trade area and a benefit to the Clty'sitrade area. Neither of the research organizations in questi~ ate conducting business in Ramsey's trade area or are .located in.th~s trade area. ~m argument c~n, however, be made that the research being done is ". . . to ith~ benefit of the City's trade area." That is, the research no d0~bt benefits individual m~ers of T2ne trade area who are afflicted!with the particular disease. My research does not reveal any case law or other in=erpreta~io~ on this s~bject. It is therefore my opinion uhe City COuncil will need to establish as a policy how ~trictly and speOif~ca~!y it wants =o inte~--pret its City Code language on this subjeCt.