The chairman of the Mohegan Tribe wants to see Montville, home to the Mohegan Sun casino, be treated as a special host city for the casino and receive a greater slice of the revenues the casino pays to Connecticut.
Tribe Chairman Kevin Brown, who was elected last year as the tribe’s leader, believes it’s important that Montville be recognized as a host community, tribal spokesman Chuck Bunnell told the Associated Press.
Connecticut has two tribal-owned casinos—the Mohegan Sun and the Foxwoods Resort Casino. Each gives the state 25 percent of their slot revenue.
But that revenue has been falling. In 2007, the amount given to Connecticut was $430. In 2013, the amount was $296. Connecticut redistributes some of that money to its municipalities by a set formula.
Montville’s share has fallen from $2.9 million in 2008 to $1.5 million last year, and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s budget proposal reduces it to $1.1 million for 2015, according to the AP.
Montville officials are aware that as more casinos are being developed in the U.S., host cities are often getting more consideration than Montville received in 1996 when the federally recognized tribe located there. They have asked the state to provide more information on the funding formula to the town.
“We’re the ones that need to buy more police cars and have more EMTs on the road,” Montville Mayor Ronald McDaniel told the news service.
Brown, Mohegan chairman, is a Montville native and first voiced his support for the town at a local town meeting, according to published reports.
