Many Pennsylvania property owners feel cheated over the tax benefit they've received from the commonwealth's slot machine gambling.

Initially, property owners were given the impression that slots gambling profits would be a godsend in reducing their property tax bills. That's because Gov. Ed Rendell and other gambling proponents seemed to project such a message.

However, the benefits from that gambling have been unimpressive at best.

Rosy predictions emanating from the Rendell administration haven't been attached only to slots revenue. Last year a rosy revenue projection was applied to the administration's plan to lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike to a private company.

The administration projected that the proposed lease for the 531-mile turnpike would generate $1 billion a year for transportation improvements. Now an independent study has shown that, like what evolved regarding slots property tax benefits, Rendell's annual revenue projection regarding the turnpike was overly optimistic.

According to the authors of the study conducted by the Pew Center on the States, the administration assumed a 12 percent annual return that was based on the 20-year average for the State Employees' Retirement System. However, the system's own forecasts called for an annual return of only 8.5 percent, the study authors said.

What was deemed by the administration as the best leasing proposal received called for a 75-year lease totaling $12.8 billion. That proposal was submitted by a partnership consisting of Abertis Infraestructuras of Spain and a unit of Citigroup.

The lease never was finalized, however. The proposal expired in September without the bid receiving legislative approval.

One of the reasons why the lease never came up for a vote was because many lawmakers had the same opinion as many other state residents — that the $12.8 billion figure was too low for a highway of such size.

The lease would have been the nation's largest public-private infrastructure deal, but the money figure tied to the transaction didn't reflect the scope of the road over which the state would have been relinquishing control.

With the state receiving a big chunk of money from the federal government under President Barack Obama's economic stimulus program, the General Assembly's reluctance to give its OK to the lease arrangement has turned out to be the right move.

The new federal money will help the commonwealth address important highway and bridge needs, eliminating the urgency that Rendell had tied to the turnpike lease to provide the money needed to attack pressing road problems. If the administration still wants to pursue a turnpike lease in the future, it can do so now without the haste that was so much a part of the Abertis-Citibank bid consideration.

The results of the Pew study, as well as the exaggered property-tax-relief projections that were made regarding slots gambling, should cause state residents to greet such optimistic claims with skepticism.

For the most part, politicians like to make bright projections aimed at taking some of the heat off of tough decisions.

That was the strategy when the Rendell administration was pushing for — and lawmakers were considering and voting on — the controversial slot machine gambling legislation, and that strategy again was in play regarding the turnpike, as confirmed by the Pew Center.

Many state property owners will continue to feel cheated when they receive their new tax bills — unless slots revenue increases dramatically — but the General Assembly's inaction on the toll road lease has averted more cause for state residents to feel as if they and the state got less than what they deemed fair.

The best advice to state residents is to react cautiously whenever they are handed rosy claims and projections. If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.