A seemingly endless line of cars flooded New York Ranch Road last Wednesday, filling a multi-layered parking structure and even causing a few to park along the side of the road as Jackson's casino experienced one of the most successful nights in its history.

Despite fierce competition from the new Red Hawk Casino in Shingle Springs, and the looming possibility of another casino coming to Buena Vista, the Jackson Rancheria has stayed viable in recent months with major promotions, such as the $100,000 give-away that drew people from all around Northern California on Feb. 4.

Five days later, at Jackson City Hall, City Manager Mike Daly seemed relieved that Jackson's municipal outlook wasn't entirely bad. Like most city managers across the country, Daly is trying to rescue an ailing budget that was severely wounded in the 2007-08 fiscal year by the loss of sales tax and building fees. However, at Monday night's city council meeting, Daly was able to break off from the potentially "tough decisions" on the horizon and say, "And now, moving on to something more positive." The conversation was about to turn to the casino.

Daly's comment was in reference to the state of California's return to giving small communities like Jackson a piece of the Indian gaming pie in the form of grants - grants which Daly and crew have been successful at landing in previous years.

"This is something that disappeared in 2008," Daly said of the Indian Gaming Local Community Benefit Committee, which the Jackson Rancheria Band of Miwuk Indians contributes to. "No money was distributed due to a 'blue pencil' budget action by the governor. Now it's back, and it's a chance for us to fund some projects that could be helpful to the city."

According to state law, the funds in question can only be spent on programs and services directly impacted by a casino. "For us, that usually means traffic and public safety," Daly told council members.

Sending casino money in these directions is significant because Jackson's general fund, according to Daly's staff report, has seen "major revenue declines" in the 2007-08 fiscal year. The general fund supports most of Jackson's non-utility services, including its police department, its fire department and the public works divisions of street maintenance. While Jackson has historically spent the grant funding from the IGLCBC on specific projects and one-time purchases - rather than starting ongoing programs that would rely on the money into the future - Daly said it was still a good opportunity to channel help to areas where the general fund is essentially struggling.

"And since our fire department has a lot of new equipment through other recent grants, we've been looking at what we can do for the police department and possibly improving the parking situation for Main Street Jackson, which is impacted by casino traffic."

Jackson police Chief Scott Morrison asked the council members to consider using part of the funds - if they were granted this year - to help his department get a canine unit.

"We've already had a perfect German shepherd donated to one of our reserve officers straight from Germany at no cost to the city at all," Morrison explained. "He's a very people-friendly dog and exactly the kind of dog for a place like Jackson. Mostly what we'd need to do is re-equip one of the patrol cars to be safe for the dog to drive around in. It's also required that an officer have a device to monitor the patrol car's temperature when he's away from it and the dog is still inside. These would be one-time purchases."

Daly also said another possible project to spend the money on would be constructing a pedestrian pathway from the Busi municipal parking lot under Highway 49/88 to the south end of Main Street. "That's an under-used parking area that could help people who want to shop on Main Street," Daly said. "The reason it's not being used too much now is mostly because of increased traffic on the highway."

Councilman Wayne Garibaldi inquired of Daly whether rumors were true that this was the last year the IGLCBC funds would be available. "It seems like it's been insinuated from tribal representatives that this time might be the last time," Garibaldi said. "Do we know?"

"It's always been a little sketchy whether this money would continue into the future," Daly responded. "That why we have to be careful not to spend it on anything that will need more money down the line."

On Tuesday morning, Daly told the Ledger Dispatch that the city was merely in the process of applying for the grants. While there's no guarantee it will get them, Daly is optimistic, based on previous years. "We've been successful in every round of funding to date," he said. "We intend to pursue funding again this year to mitigate the impacts of the casino."