CT: Increased taxpayer costs

The Spectrum Report is available in its entirety on the United to Stop Slots in Massachusetts web site.

The proposal crafted behind closed doors by Speaker "Racino" DeLeo lays the groundwork for Massachusetts taxpayers to pick up the tab for gambling investors, just as CT taxpayers have done.

(Please note that Spectrum was only asked to consider communities within a 10 mile radius. The impacts on the state are far greater than that.)

From:
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Some of the perimeter municipalities have documented impacts such as increased traffic accidents, DUI arrests and the need for special programs to help non-English speaking students learn the English language.

In recent years, the General Assembly increased the compensation to some of the perimeter municipalities, but local officials say it is not nearly enough, and the level of funding often depends on the state‘s fiscal health.

Norwich, the largest municipality in the region, is coping with a number of problems. It is located within eight miles of both casinos.

DUI arrests have more than doubled since 1992.

In hot pursuit of a Casino in Palmer, this is what they now claim:

Hartmann said the Mohegan Sun trains employees to stop serving alcohol to customers who drink too much, and is committed to working with local police to eliminate drunken driving, he said.

Rhetoric must mean a lot to those killed by drunken drivers.



Montville and Ledyard have also experienced significant increases.

Roughly 20 percent of the motorists in Montville, Ledyard and North Stonington arrested for DUI acknowledged to police that their last drink was at a casino.

One such motorist was charged with manslaughter in March 2009 for allegedly causing a fatal accident by driving the wrong way on I-395.

Norwich Public School administrators identified on a yearly basis nearly $2 million in casino-related costs. In order to handle the influx of immigrant workers attracted to casino jobs, the district had to create English for Speakers of Other Languages ("ESOL") program because students speak nearly 30 different languages. They come from Haiti, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Eastern Europe.

In addition, thousands of Chinese-speaking workers were recruited from New York City in late 2001 to work at the casinos.

This is what they now claim:

Jeffrey E. Hartmann, chief operating officer of the Mohegan Sun, said he was confident that the proposed Palmer casino would hire all its employees from Palmer and Greater Springfield. Hartmann said the Mohegan Sun needed to look outside Connecticut to hire workers because the economy was strong and there was a shortage of labor.

Hatmann doesn't tell you that these are low wage dead end jobs that don't provide a living wage.

Norwich Public Schools reported the following to us:

In 1999, it enrolled 40 ESOL students. Today, the figure stands at nearly 400.

About half of the ESOL students are proficient in math; less than a third in reading.

The district, as of the 2008-2009 school year, operates two bilingual programs – one in Spanish and another in Haitian Creole. It may soon have to offer a third program in Mandarin Chinese.

Budgets cuts forced the district to eliminate a full-day kindergarten program, close an elementary school and use outdated textbooks.


The City of Norwich copes with significant impacts as well. City officials estimate casino-related costs to be anywhere from $1 million to $2.5 million a year. They include:

A 27 percent increase in motor vehicle accidents from 1991 to 2004.

An increase in police overtime from $85,000 in 1991 to more than $280,000 in 2008.

A 76 percent increase in calls for service from people needing the assistance of the police from 1992 to 2004.


Other area municipalities and school districts have sustained similar impacts but not to the same extent as Norwich.

They include:

Norwich Free Academy (Norwich‘s public high school):

Its current ESOL enrollment is nearly 200, seven times the 1993 figure.

Ledyard Public Schools:

Educates children who live on the Mashantucket Pequot reservation yet receives no property taxes from families who live on land within the reservation because the Tribe is a sovereign nation.

Montville Public Schools:

Expending more resources to educate Chinese-speaking students. The number was 54 in 1994; 183 in 2007.

Automobile and pedestrian accidents:

Three casino workers walking to Mohegan Sun have been killed in car accidents in the past 16 months, the last of which was a hit and


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run that occurred on April 14, 2008. The motorist was charged in early 2009 with manslaughter. Mohegan Sun has spent $2 million to erect sidewalks and install lighting along a portion of Route 32 to cut down on the accidents.