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7.29.07
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Middleborough goes 'all in' Town OK's casino by 2-to-1 vote Volunteers counted the ballots inside Middleborough's high school. There were more than 3,700 ballots to count. (JOHN TLUMACKI/GLOBE STAFF)
MIDDLEBOROUGH -- By a vote of 2,387 to 1,335, Middleborough residents yesterday approved a deal to bring the state's first casino to this mostly rural town south of Boston, capping a sometimes acrimonious local debate and dropping the future of casino gambling in Massachusetts into the lap of Governor Deval Patrick. "The town just took a giant step forward to preserve and enhance the town for its residents and their children," said Wayne Perkins, a longtime selectman.
Glenn Marshall, Wampanoag tribal chairman, said it was "an exciting day for everyone. Now, it's time to sit down and negotiate with the governor."
Noting that the ancestral grounds of the tribe include Middleborough, Marshall said, "We now have a home. The tribe's coming back home and I can't say how happy we are."
Related content:  Middleborough goes 'all in'
In exchange for its support, the casino developers are promising the town $7 million a year in cash payments, plus revenues from a 4 percent lodging assessment when a planned 1,500 room hotel opens on the site. The tribe has also promised to make improvements in town roads and other infrastructure for the benefit of the casino, and to make a onetime $2 million payment for police and ambulance services.
Middleborough, a town of about 22,000, is in dire financial straits. The town collects only $3.5 million in commercial and industrial annual taxes and is currently facing a $700,000 budget deficit. A Proposition 2 1/2 tax override for additional school funding was defeated in June.
The $7 million would represent about 11 percent of the town's current $64 million budget. And if the lodging assessment tax produces another $4 million a year, the casino's contribution would be about 17 percent of the budget. (Complete Story ) |
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