Polk County officials are looking at the loss of significant revenue if a ruling by the Internal Revenue Service to pull the non-profit status of Altoona’s Prairie Meadows Casino and Racetrack holds. Between Polk County’s lease and revenue sharing agreements with Prairie Meadows, the casino contributes roughly 26 million dollars annually to the county. The chair of the Polk County Board of Supervisors, Tom Hockensmith, says losing that tax-exempt status for the casino would take a big bite out of that amount.
Prairie Meadows has also revenue sharing agreements with the City of Des Moines and all of Polk County’s school districts. And the casino is required by state law to give millions of dollars in charitable donations. Hockensmith says the revenue generated by the Prairie Meadows Casino, Racetrack and Hotel has a positive effect.
It’s not known at this point why the I-R-S has deemed Prairie Meadows to be a for-profit company. The organization plans to appeal the decision. The I-R-S declined to comment.
