By Patrick Crowley
The Cincinnati Enquirer

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS - Northern Kentucky business, community and political leaders spent Wednesday showing nearly 80 state lawmakers what this region already has - Newport on the Levee, a $40 million science building at Northern Kentucky University, riverfront development, the Hofbrauhaus and more.

They spent Thursday telling legislators what the region still wants.

Members of the legislature's interim Appropriations and Revenue Committee heard testimony Thursday from education and business leaders about the need for more state spending in Northern Kentucky. The lawmakers were in the region for two days of committee meetings and tours of the region's attractions. No votes were taken because the legislature is not in session.

Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce President Gary Toebben asked the lawmakers to consider funding the region's three priority projects for state money:

• The 6,500-seat Northern Kentucky Regional Events Center, which would be built on the campus at Northern Kentucky University at a cost of $40 million to $45 million.

• $10 million for property acquisition and infrastructure improvements for Riverfront West, a proposed $800 million office, residential, retail and entertainment development planned for Covington's riverfront.

• A $5 million museum at Big Bone Lick State Park in southern Boone County.

Toebben, who thanked the legislature for backing earlier projects in the region, also suggested ways to generate money for a state budget that is currently facing a revenue shortfall of $81 million.

Though both ideas have been met with resistance in Frankfort, Toebben reiterated the chamber's support of legalizing casino gambling at Kentucky's horse tracks and raising the state's cigarette tax, which at 3.5 cents per pack is the second-lowest in the nation.

Toebben said studies have shown that Kentucky residents are spending $1 billion a year on casinos and related entertainment in Indiana. Gambling taxes, along with an increase in the cigarette tax, could not only help pay for projects here and across the state, but also provide revenue for schools, health care and other services.

"An increase in cigarette taxes is a logical way of funding some of the health care needs of our poor and our elderly," Toebben said during the meeting, which was held at NKU. "We recognize that raising taxes is unpopular. But neither are under-functioning skills, unpaid medical bills and dollars flying across the Ohio River to benefit communities that are located less than one mile from the Kentucky state line."

Rep. Jon Draud, R-Crestview Hills, applauded Toebben's testimony and said the time has come for the legislature to make some tough decisions about raising revenue.

"There is no question that we need to do tax reform to increase revenue," Draud said. "The most palatable kinds of taxes for most people would be the user-type tax for people who want to smoke and people who want to gamble. It doesn't create a burden for people who are not using the services."

State Sen. Jack Westwood, R-Crescent Springs, said the state should concentrate more on economic development and attracting companies that will generate new taxes instead of raising existing taxes.

"If you do those kinds of things the natural sales tax and income tax increases will be there to fund the programs that we so urgently need to have," Westwood said. "To raise taxes you may be discouraging that sort of thing. I wish the chamber would take a different point of view."

A group of leading educators implored the legislators to resist cutting public education.

NKU President Dr. James Votruba said the university has been underfunded compared to other public universities in the state. Without additional funding, NKU will be faced with capping enrollment at about 14,500 and double-digit increases in tuition.

"The biggest challenge we have is to continue the momentum that is so important to this region and so important to the commonwealth," Votruba said.

The committee also heard testimony from Campbell County Judge-executive Steve Pendery and Dan Tobergte, senior vice president of the Northern Kentucky Tri-ED economic development recruitment agency, about the proposed Technology Commercialization Triangle at Northern Kentucky University.

Pendery said the thrust of the triangle is to leverage NKU's assets to attract successful technology companies to the three cities - Highland Heights, Cold Spring and Wilder - that surround the university.

The state has allocated $500,000 for startup costs. Part of that will be used to hire a consultant that will study incentives that might be offered prospective companies, Tobergte said.

E-mail pcrowley@enquirer.com