Governor Patrick Unveils Plan for Casino Gaming in Massachusetts
Three destination resort casinos to spur economic development and create tens of thousands of new jobs
BOSTON-Monday, September 17, 2007-Governor Deval Patrick today announced his decision to support the authorization of three destination resort casinos to be built in different regions of the state. This initiative will result in tens of thousands of jobs and ultimately create billions of dollars in new revenue for the Commonwealth that would be dedicated to road and bridge repair and construction and much needed property tax relief for more than a million Bay State homeowners.
“After thoroughly reviewing the arguments and the analysis on both sides of the issue, I believe authorizing three resort casinos will have significant economic benefits to Massachusetts,” said Governor Patrick. “Done the right way, destination resort casinos can play a useful part, along with other initiatives in life sciences, renewable energy and education reform, in providing our Commonwealth with sustainable, long-term economic growth.”
The Governor’s destination resort casino plan is another significant component of his strategy for ensuring the Commonwealth’s economic strength and competitiveness. Along with his Life Sciences strategy, the Readiness Project, and the administration’s 5-year capital plan, the construction and operation of three resort casinos will help create more than 100,000 jobs by 2010 and secure the Commonwealth’s top position in a global economy.
Specifically, the plan focuses on the following areas:
Economic Development and Job Creation
The Governor’s plan calls for the competitive licensing of three casinos to be built in the western, southeastern and metropolitan Boston areas of the Commonwealth. These three destinations would generate more than 20,000 permanent and diverse jobs throughout the state with good wages and benefits, and the construction of these facilities alone would create tens of thousands of additional jobs.
In addition to significant job creation benefits, the introduction of three commercial destination resort casinos to the Bay State is expected to result in hundreds of millions of dollars from in new state revenue annually after the cost of top-in-the-nation public health and public safety programs as well as mitigation to neighboring cities and towns.
“Locating these resort casinos in different regions of the state expands economic development and job creation broadly throughout the Commonwealth,” said Housing and Economic Development Secretary Dan O’Connell. “By ensuring a destination facility model we can diversify employment, support tourism and convention industry and continue to position Massachusetts as an economic leader”
Property Tax Credit
The new revenue generated from the three casinos would be dedicated to making a major investment in our roads and bridges and offering the relief struggling homeowners need across the state. Property taxes in Massachusetts have risen in many communities by more than 50 percent over the last six years. This historic rise in taxes has had a disproportionate impact on people living on fixed incomes as well as low and middle income families. Under the Governor’s plan, half of new destination resort casino state revenue would be dedicated each year to broad based, direct property tax relief for more than one million homeowners. This broad based property tax credit is another step in the administration’s efforts to reduce the burden of residential property taxes on homeowners. Along with the provisions of the Municipal Partnership Act, this property tax credit will result in real savings to Massachusetts homeowners.
Investments in Our Roads, Rails and Bridges
In addition, the Governor’s plan calls for the remaining new state revenue from casino destination resorts to be spent on repairing and restoring the Commonwealth’s roads and bridges, which have been neglected for 16 years. The independent Transportation Finance Commission estimates the cost simply to maintain our current transportation infrastructure at $15 billion to $19 billion, and currently there are nearly 600 bridges in the state that are characterized as being “structurally deficient.” Although none of these bridges pose an immediate safety threat, the Commonwealth cannot delay in repairing them.
The additional revenue generated from the three, commercial destination resort casinos will allow the Commonwealth to address the outstanding backlog of rehabilitation and maintenance projects that exist throughout our transportation infrastructure network and to make critical investments that will ensure our competitiveness and economic future.
“Our roads, rails, buses and bridges are showing the effects and results of over 16 years of neglect by previous administrations,” Governor Patrick said. “By investing a significant portion of the resort casino revenue toward improving roads we accelerate the growth in economic opportunities in every region, ensure the safety of our public roads and bridges, and address effectively one of the greatest fiscal challenges we face.”
Public Health
Acknowledging the social costs that often accompany resort casinos, Governor Patrick has incorporated comprehensive, “best in class” public heath and safety strategies into his plan. To address the increased demand on social service and public health programs, the Governor’s plan calls for a new Public Health Trust Fund to be created and funded in an amount equal to 2.5 percent of each casino’s gross revenue. The fund will support gambling prevention and addiction services as well as cover the costs for services to address other problems such as domestic violence and child welfare services. In addition, the state will launch a widespread educational campaign that addresses the potential addictive nature of gambling and will construct an evaluation system to ensure proper mitigation of any negative public health costs.
“This will place Massachusetts in the top tier of states when it comes to public health policy surrounding casinos,” said Secretary of Health and Human Services Dr. JudyAnn Bigby. “We will closely monitor the impact of casinos on public health and ensure there are resources for prevention and treatment.”
Regulation, Enforcement and Public Safety
The Governor’s plan also calls for the most comprehensive regulatory enforcement in the country. A new independent commission will be created to provide nationally unprecedented regulatory oversight. The regulation, enforcement and public safety strategy will be funded entirely by the destination resort casinos through an assessment on each slot machine and table game at the facilities. Additionally, a new and independent division within the office of the Attorney General will be created to enforce the regulations and laws developed to regulate casino activity. Further, special units of the State Police will be created to police each of the destination resort casinos and the Commonwealth will execute policing agreements with each facility.
“This multi-pronged approach ensures that we will have the most rigorous and transparent public safety structure in the country,” said Public Safety Secretary Kevin Burke. “We have built on the success and experience of other states and will have a strong and independent commission.”
Supporting Surrounding Communities
To help cities and towns around casinos address any increases in police, fire, transportation or other services related to the construction and operation of the facilities, the state will create a Community Mitigation Trust Fund to be funded in an amount equal to 2.5 percent of each casino’s gross revenue.
Open and Transparent Competitive Auction Process
Under the Governor’s plan, companies interested in developing destination resort casinos will be required to bid on the three commercial licenses that will be m
ade available. The Commonwealth will retain the services of a respected and reputable financial services firm to conduct the auction for the licenses and no more than three will be issued. The auction process alone is expected to generate hundreds of millions of dollars that would be used to begin the property tax credit program, fund road and bridge repairs and to construct the regulatory, enforcement and public safety structure that will oversee the casinos.
…and came up a loser time and time again -and he's been in the corner office for less than a year.
“Under the Governor's plan, half of new destination resort casino state revenue would be dedicated each year to broad based, direct property tax relief for more than one million homeowners.”
If this is what he had in mind when on the campaign trail he kept hammering home the need for property tax relief, then i feel like i've been sucker-punched.
i keep thinking of that scene in “It's a Wonderful Life” when George Bailey is shown what his hometown would've been like if he had never been born and the angel shows him “Pottersville” with all of its gambling and vice. but with patrick it's just the opposite. ten years from now we'll look at honky-tonk, trashy, crime-addled massa-two-shits and say, oh, what would life be like now if we'd never elected deval patrick?
he has floated other ideas for property tax relief, but they’ve stalled in the lege. He might have decided to back casinos anyway, but DiMasi & Co.’s lack of interest in exploring other options pretty much guaranteed it.
Bit of a cop-out, no? And sort of ass-backwards if Sal ends up in opposition. Surely you don’t propose such a long-lasting and far-reaching change to the state because you’ve given up, after nine months, on persuading the leg of doing anything else?
How is he going to ensure that? Most gaming jobs (NAICS 7132) pay less than $30,000/yr, and several pay less than $20,000! That's a poverty wage if you have two kids.
$20K is the federal poverty level for a family of 4 (so with two kids, the spouse would have to be unemployed).
when Patrick talked about making Massachusetts a leader in alternative energy. Those were the days.
I'm not ready to give up on Deval, but I was truly shocked at yesterday's headline (and not that it's all about me, but this seems as good a place as any to admit how wrong I was about what he was thinking). You can tell he thinks this is wrong, because he's padding the announcement with other things people won't argue with. If he were announcing something good, he would let it stand on its own.
Let’s skip for a moment whether or not casinos are a good idea on a policy or political basis.
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My question: assuming DP wanted to greenlight casinos, was THIS specific plan a POLITICALLY adept one?
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I think: Yes.
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1. Roads, tax cuts for homeowners — could you possibly target $ better among voters? No. Smart.
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2. Pays a labor debt.
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3. “Best in class” social services. Naysayers will argue (I believe correctly) that even best-in-class social services aren’t that effective in vice-related self-harm.
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But it bolsters the plan politically.
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4. Room for political compromise? Sure.
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For example, if Lege says “Forget prop tax relief, let’s add to state coffers instead, then spend on K-12.”
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Gov says: Sure. Still a win for him.
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Other opinions?
I think the 3-license end-run around the Middleborough situation is a good strategy. Doesn’t cut the tribe out — they can still compete for a license, or they can go the slower federal route — but totally avoids the Gov having to get involved in the morass of the tribe’s legal problems, and the question whether the Middleborough deal was a good one in the first place.
I have posted my initial reaction at The Eisenthal Report. To summarize, I believe that Governor Patrick and his administration are underestimating the impacts from the casinos on the economics, politics, and sociology of Massachusetts.
First point: Good heavens, does this man have the faintest clue how politics operates? Why not just say that the revenue will decrease the death-tax, stop funding partial-birth abortions, or support veterans returning from our mission in Iraq to avenge 9/11?
“Tax relief” is a Republican frame and game that he should recognize by now. Taxes aren't a burden that require “relief” — they are every person's share of responsibility for the upkeep of a modern economy and democratic society. We don't do levees in this country, we don't have the draft, we don't make elderly folks shovel their sidewalk when it snows. We have taxes, which pay people to do that. Republicans hate that, so they spin that responsibility as a “burden” to get people to cut them. With less money — so the theory was — you cut programs. Democrats don't see taxes as a burden, but rather contributing one's fair share for the benefits conferred by the governments of this nation, state, and municipality. This is introductory politics, Deval, and you're flunking the course. Homework: read Frank Luntz and discuss.
Second point: Deval can no more dedicate state funds to property tax relief than I can. His options are either to expand state power through the use of spending on town projects, or to send more money to the towns. In either case, he's adding cash to the town/city budget. He has no ability to force municipalities to lower taxes in consequence. They can (and any student history knows, probably will) raise spending instead. The money will go to health care, senior needs, schools. But taxes? He's making promises upon which he can't deliver.
he’s talking about a tax credit. For however much “relief” (heh heh) you’re entitled to, you take it off the top of your income tax bill.
Either you are self righteous and think taxes are good and lose elections, or you win elections by reframing the issue.
-Taxes are generally too high considering what we get in return in terms of services at least in MA and IL, although Cambridge is a good exception to that in my experience. In any case its a relief to the average American when their taxes go down, like any other bill, so I do not oppose this term
-It is totally partial birth, if the babys skull is in the cervix we can drill its brain out but as soon as its head pops past it thats murder? I call that an arbitrary and immoral line to draw and the vast majority of Americans (around 80%) agree with me in restricting this. Again support abortion on demand and you lose the election.
Other than that I totally agree with you on your other criticisms of Deval, his promise to lower property taxes always seemed suspect to me, and starve the beast never works, similarly while he might argue that the new road and highways taxes are going to be offset by spending cuts in the pension programs does anyone seriously believe either the Lege or he will fight the unions on that one? A total disappointment and while again I feel he deserves three more years to rebound this has been the last big straw on the camels back in a series of disappointments.
That Tim Cahill is setting himself up to run for Gov. in three years and is giving DP enough rope to hang himself. Cahill is being very clever of late re how he positions himself viz a vis the governor on many critical issues.
(0.00 / 0) That Tim Cahill is setting himself up to run for Gov. in three years and is giving DP enough rope to hang himself. Cahill is being very clever of late re how he positions himself viz a vis the governor on many critical issues.
If Cahill gets credited with clever and sneaky, why take the Governor at his word? Can't he be clever and sneaky too? I think he waited on pulling the trigger on this thing for a reason. He needed certain winds to blow in one way, or things to fall into place. What those things are, I have no idea. But there seems to me so much calculation and calibration in this that, I'm certain, this plan will not survive in its present form, if at all.
The most disappointing thing about this is the seeming fact that the Governor, in making this decision, isn't the person we thought he was. I however, never though of him as a messiah so I think my disappointment is a little less of a shock. I do, however, continue to think of him as a good man, personally ill at ease with gambling/gaming. Well maybe I'm just being obtuse, or wishful, but I don't think I'm wrong about the Gov and that there's something else here. I just hope he’s savvy enough to pull it off.
If you want to drop him and continue your search for the messiah, good luck to you. (It ain't Cahill either…) Personally, I think that Deval will be Governor for as long as he wants to be Governor. Cahill is probably waiting for a Senate seat to open up. (TK is 79)
“Deval can no more dedicate state funds to property tax relief than I can. His options are either to expand state power through the use of spending on town projects, or to send more money to the towns. In either case, he's adding cash to the town/city budget. He has no ability to force municipalities to lower taxes in consequence. They can (and any student history knows, probably will) raise spending instead. The money will go to health care, senior needs, schools. But taxes? He's making promises upon which he can't deliver.”
I cringed at the start of his campaign when he began talking about lowering property taxes. I thought, oh, no, the press will nail him on this and he's going to look like a fool, like he has no idea that cities and towns set property tax rates.
But it soon became apparent that the media wasn't going to let the voters know that the wannabe emperor had no clothes. he was allowed to say it again and again and nobody called him on it. i feel bad for the working class democrats who bought into that crap and truly believed he would lower their property taxes.
some of us, and i admit i was surely one of them, were just so eager, so giddy about the thought of an african-american in the governor's office that we were willing to overlook the specious nature of his promise. Now, less than nine months down the road I wish i voted for mihos.
Gang-
I missed Deval's announcement and press conference yesterday. Anybody know where I can get a transcript of the festivities?
Thanks.
is here.