Springfield City Councilor Sean Curran is urging Gov. Maura Healey to restore $3 million in casino mitigation funds. The city and other local communities have relied on these funds, generated by MGM Springfield and other casinos, to fund public safety, infrastructure and community projects. Curran says restoring the money is critical to honoring promises to Springfield, which bears the largest share of casino related impacts. State House News Service reporter Colin Young explains the state gaming commission did not intend the community mitigation funding to be phased out in this way.
Colin Young, SHNS: I don’t believe the plan was for them to go away entirely, but when they were put in place, part of the purpose of these mitigation funds was to mitigate the impacts specifically from the construction of these facilities, and we’re now well down the road. The issue here isn’t so much a change from the Gaming Commission as it is a change from the Legislature. The Legislature decided that they would stop the flow of casino revenues to this mitigation fund. So really, the well that the Gaming Commission was spending from dried up on them.
Carrie Healy, NEPM: Last week, the Massachusetts Municipal Association released research from Tufts University’s Center for State Policy Analysis highlighting a revenue crunch facing local communities. The report says, “rural towns and gateway cities lack the local income and wealth to respond at all to rising expenses.”…