The Hampden District Attorney’s Office and Hampden County Sheriff’s Office were awarded funds as part of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission’s recent release of the fiscal year 2025 regional grants from the Community Mitigation Fund.
The MGC offers municipal and regional grants to towns and organizations in the state as compensation for impacts from nearby casinos. In the Springfield area, these impacts are due to MGM Springfield. Both the District Attorney’s Office and Sheriff’s Office applied and received funds as part of yearly submissions to the commission.
The Hampden County Sheriff’s Office was awarded $400,000 from the Community Mitigation Fund to offset the increased rent for the building used for the Western Massachusetts Recovery and Wellness Center, which was forced to relocate when MGM Springfield was established at its former location, Senior Public Information Officer Robert Rizzuto told Reminder Publishing.
When the Western Massachusetts Recovery and Wellness Center relocated from its 29-year location at Howard Street to its new location at Mill Street in 2016, the center’s annual rent increased significantly, Rizzuto said. At Howard Street, the annual rent was $666,257, while the 10-year lease for the property at Mill Street is $11.8 million, or about $1.15 million annually.
The Western Massachusetts Recovery and Wellness Center offers rehabilitation services to citizens across the state, utilizing methods such as education, therapy and skills lessons. The center first opened in 1985 as the Western Massachusetts Correctional Alcohol Center, the Sheriff’s Office stated.
“This facility serves people with substance use disorder and addiction-related people not just from Worcester west, but from across the commonwealth. We also take on step-down inmates from the state Department of Correction and the Federal Bureau of Prisons, helping each of them find their own successful path to long-term recovery,” Hampden County Sheriff Nick Cocchi said in a statement to Reminder Publishing.
The District Attorney’s Office received $75,000 from the MGC. These funds are designed to support the office’s functions as a result of an increased caseload connected to the establishment of MGM Springfield, Director of Communications and Public Affairs James Leydon said.
The requested funds are not connected to an ongoing unusual increase, but part of an annual process for the office to apply for these funds, Leydon stated, noting that the grant was “fairly nominal” and not connected to any concerns of the office becoming overburdened with cases.
In the previous year, the District Attorney’s Office managed a total of 194 cases related to MGM Springfield, the office stated. Cases may include domestic violence and theft.
Specifically, the $75,000 will go towards personnel salaries for employees reviewing the additional cases, Leydon said. He estimated that FY25 was the fifth or sixth year that the District Attorney’s Office had applied to the Community Mitigation Fund grants.
Other groups to receive regional grants include Holyoke Community College, the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission and Springfield Technical Community College, according to the MGC.
