Deadline: 31-Jan-22
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) is pleased to announce the 2022 Community Mitigation Fund to help communities and other entities offset costs related to the construction and operation of a gaming establishment.
The Massachusetts Legislature legalized casino gaming to produce broad-based economic development, including jobs and revenue. The Legislature also established an equally important mandate to mitigate unintended impacts associated with the arrival of casino gaming. To that end, the law created the Community Mitigation Fund to support communities and governmental entities in offsetting impact costs related to the construction and operation of gaming facilities.
Grant Categories
The Commission has determined a target spending amount of $21.0 million for fiscal year 2022. If the 2022 target is met, the CMF would still have an estimated unallocated balance of $2.1 million from funds.
The following are the grant categories for the 2022 CMF. Applicants may apply for grants in more than one category; however, any individual project may only be included under one grant category:
- Specific Impact Grants: Specific Impact Grants may be used only to mitigate impacts that either have occurred or are occurring.
- Public Safety Grants: Grants for public safety operational costs shall not exceed $200,000 per community. All applications for Public Safety Grants must identify an operational impact of the gaming facility that the grant is designed to address.
- Community Planning Grants: Community Planning Grants are available for all communities that were eligible to receive Reserve Grants. No application for a Community Planning Grant shall exceed $100,000. Applications involving transportation planning or design are not eligible for the 2022 Community Planning Grant. Communities requesting transportation planning should instead apply for Transportation Planning Grant funds.
- Transportation Planning Grants: The Commission will make funding available for certain transportation planning activities for all communities eligible to receive funding from the CMF. No application for a Transportation Planning Grant shall exceed $200,000.
- Transportation Construction Grants: The Commission will make funding available for certain transportation construction costs in the 2022 CMF. The Commission will consider waiving this cap if the applicant can affirmatively demonstrate that the cost associated with mitigating the impact exceeds the cap.
- Workforce Development Grants: They encourage applicants to be creative in their grant applications, keeping in mind that training programs must have a direct correlation to impacts from the casino.
- Tribal Gaming Technical Assistance Grants: The Commission may make available up to $200,000 in technical assistance funding to assist in the determination of potential impacts that may be experienced by communities in geographic proximity to the potential Tribal Gaming facility in Taunton.
- Emergency Mitigation Grants: The Commission may make available no more than $200,000 in grant funds to mitigate unanticipated casino related impacts.
Eligibility Criteria
- The Massachusetts Gaming Commission’s regulations identify a range of eligible entities including, but not limited to:
- communities in the vicinity of the gaming establishment including: host and surrounding communities; each community that entered into a nearby community agreement; any community that petitioned to be a surrounding community; and each community that is geographically adjacent to a host community;
- water and sewer districts in the vicinity of a gaming establishment;
- local and regional agencies involved in education, transportation, infrastructure, housing and environmental issues; and
- public safety agencies, including the office of the county district attorney, police, fire, and emergency services.
- Applications involving a mitigation measure impacting only one community shall only be submitted by the authorized representatives of the community itself. Governmental entities within communities such as redevelopment authorities or non-regional school districts shall submit applications through such community rather than submitting applications independent of the community.
- Private non-governmental parties may not apply for Community Mitigation Funds. Governmental entities may apply to the Commission for funds to mitigate impacts provided that the funding is used for a “public purpose” and not the direct benefit or maintenance of a private party or private parties. The Commission strongly encourages applicants to ensure that the impacts are directly related to the gaming facility and that the public purpose of such mitigation is readily apparent. The Commission will not fund any applications for assistance for non-governmental entities.
- Please note that as stated by the Commonwealth’s Comptroller’s Office: “The Anti-Aid Amendment of the Massachusetts Constitution prohibits ‘public money or property’ from aiding non-public institutions. Article 46 has been interpreted to allow the expenditure of public funds to non-public recipients solely for the provision of a ‘public purposes’ [sic] and not for the direct benefit or maintenance of the non-public entity.”
- Any governmental entity seeking funding for mitigation is required to ensure that any planned use of funding is in conformity with the provisions of the Massachusetts Constitution and with all applicable laws and regulations, including but not limited to, Municipal Finance Law and public procurement requirements.
For more information, visit https://massgaming.com/about/community-mitigation-fund/