Councilman Wayne Stebner is pushing for the increase, arguing that a recent report on Ruston’s financial condition shows that desperate measures are in order. Unless something changes, Ruston will run out of money before its potential savior – the vast Point Ruston mixed-use development – is finished, he said.

A possible consequence of that, Stebner said, could be annexing to Tacoma. Or maybe becoming part of unincorporated Pierce County.

“Right now, we have a shot at keeping Ruston,” Stebner said. “We need to do what we can to save it.”

Steve Fabre, owner of the Point Defiance Cafe & Casino, believes Stebner wants to put the casino out of business to exact revenge for Fabre’s lawsuit against the Chinese Christian Church of Tacoma. The lawsuit, which was settled out of court, also named editors of the Ruston Connection, a community newsletter where Fabre believes Stebner has friends. Fabre sued the church to make its leaders stop telling people he stole electricity.

“It’s just a back-door way of closing me down,” Fabre said. “They don’t want to ban me, so they’ll just tax me out.”

Stebner denied the lawsuit had anything to do with his tax proposal. “This is about raising money for the town,” he said.

Whatever the motivation, Fabre insists that raising the tax on social card games to 20 percent will force him to close his struggling casino, a move that would put 60 people out of work and cost the town some $40,000 per year in gambling tax revenue.

And he promises another lawsuit. “We’ll go to litigation immediately once the ordinance is passed,” Fabre said.

The proposed ordinance is on the council’s meeting agenda for tonight. In addition to raising the tax on social card games, it would raise the tax on punch-boards and pull tabs to 5 percent, affecting at least two taverns.

Fabre spoke to Stebner about the proposal, and the conversation inflamed suspicion about Stebner’s motives.

“He told me either the tax will close me, or I’ll have to close when Tacoma takes over,” Fabre said. The City of Tacoma enacted a ban on mini-casinos.

Stebner admits telling Fabre that, but Stebner said he was trying to emphasize the need for Ruston to generate more revenue. “If we don’t start doing something, we’re going to run out of money,” he said. “We’ll be in Tacoma.”

Mayor Michael Transue agrees that money will be tight for the next several years as Ruston waits for the Point Ruston development to be built, but he doesn’t believe the situation is as dire as Stebner portrays it.

Transue requested the financial analysis that’s driving Stebner’s concerns. It was prepared by Steve Marcotte, the former finance director for the City of Tacoma. The report was completed in February and cost $5,000. The Association of Washington Cities agreed to pay half of the cost, Transue said.

Marcotte concluded that Ruston is spending more money than it’s collecting, but new revenue from development, including the 60-unit Commencement condominiums and Point Ruston, have the potential to make the town financially viable.

The town has survived the last few years on reserves from the sale of the property for The Commencement condominiums, Marcotte said. Those funds will be reduced to an estimated $3.6 million in reserves at the end of the year, Marcotte said, an amount that he predicted would be sufficient to “bridge the cash flow challenges expected during the build out” of Point Ruston.

At the same time, Marcotte notes that new residents and shops will bring more demands on the town to provide services. He recommended the town fully assess the cost impacts of the looming growth. New residents at The Commencement and Point Ruston will swell the town’s population from about 750 people to more than 1,700, Marcotte said.

“This is a population growth of about 135 percent and means that new residents, who may have differing expectations for Town services, will be a majority of Ruston’s future population,” the report says.

Already, town officials are talking about the possibility of Tacoma providing some services for Ruston, including planning, building permits and sewer.

Currently, Ruston contracts with private companies for planning and building permit services. Ruston owns its own sewer utility, and contracts with Tacoma for treatment.

Stebner pushed last year to disband Ruston’s Fire Department and contract with Tacoma for services, but Tacoma pulled out of the talks.

Tacoma Councilman Spiro Manthou, whose West End district borders Ruston, said he was aware of some talks about Tacoma providing more services for Ruston, particularly for the Point Ruston development that straddles the boundary between the two communities.

If Tacoma does start providing more services, it could beg the question of annexation, he said. “If one city is providing all these services, at what point do you still maintain independence?” Manthou said. “I don’t know what the tipping point is.”

Manthou added that Tacoma cannot seek to annex Ruston, and he’s not even sure if Tacoma would want to add the town to its fold. “They would have to want to come in,” he said.

Stebner made the same point. “The bottom line is annexing to Tacoma would not happen without a vote of the people,” Stebner said. “I want to consider all the options while we still can.”

Jason Hagey: 253-597-8542

blogs.thenewstribune.com/politics What: Ruston Town Council meeting

When: 7 p.m. today

Where: Ruston School Building, 5129 N. Shirley St.