Governor Romney’s budget caps Lottery distribution to cities and towns at $661 million. In FY’04, this cap diverted an estimated $142 million away from local communities to the general fund.

• The Lottery was established as a source of additional revenue for cities and towns. Lottery profits should be sent to local communities where they belong.

• After education aid, lottery distributions are the second largest form of local aid that cities and towns receive. This form of Local Aid is particularly important to small towns that do not have a strong commercial base or do not receive significant amounts of Chapter 70 education aid. For such towns, lottery aid provided the only growing source of state aid during the 1990s.

• Governor Romney cut Lottery Distribution by $73 million in the middle of FY ’03. Then, in FY’04 the Governor capped Lottery Aid at $661 million, siphoning off about $142 million. He maintains the cap in his FY’05 budget, and the diversion grows to about $175 million.

The legislature has an opportunity to provide relief to local communities by using Lottery profits for their intended purpose. Instead of using lottery profits as a band-aid, real reform would address the state’s structural deficit, which was caused by the excessive tax cuts of the 1990s.

Cities and towns need this money! The cuts of the last two years have decimated public safety and education in many communities. Furthermore, most communities have been forced to raise property taxes – the most regressive tax we have – to pay for basic services. Additional lottery dollars would provide relief both in terms of funding cuts and property tax increases.