Mayor Domenic J. Sarno sent a formal request to our local members of the State Senate to asking for help to restore Casino Mitigation Funding for Springfield.
Today, Mayor Sarno issued a letter to both State Senator Adam Gomez and State Senator Jacob Oliveira, to respectfully ask them to consider filing an amendment within the Supplemental Budget (H4615) that is currently pending before the Senate Ways and Means.
The State Legislature voted to reallocate the Casino Mitigation Fund and redirected the monies to statewide priorities instead of local communities. The loss of this funding will have a significant impact upon the communities that were receiving this funding, especially host communities such as Springfield.
Springfield, which once received on average about $3 million a year had seen a dramatic decrease in funding to $1.4 million last year and only $360,000 this year. The City had relied upon such funding to help support local projects that supported our local infrastructure, traffic improvements, neighborhood parks – including Court Square, economic development planning, and public safety aspects. This is a tremendous loss for our community.
Springfield, being a host community to MGM Springfield, should continue to receive Casino Mitigation Funding. Mayor Sarno respectfully requested that our legislators file an amendment within the pending Supplement Budget restoring this much-needed funding for our communities.