House Uncaps Lottery Aid

Much ado today over the news that the House budget, due out in the next week or two, will uncap lottery aid.

This follows Gov. Mitt Romney's budget, which also eliminates the cap on aid. It doesn't effect the bottom line because we're talking max numbers here, so Fitchburg is still looking at $10.2 million, definitely a nice upgrade.

Two thoughts:

First, while this is heavily reported news (and got the traditional across-the-top treatment in the Sentinel), it's not really surprising. By uncapping the aid, Romney left no room for the Legislature to add. And cutting aid at this point would have led to massive municipal revolt. So really, not huge news.

Second, what does this mean for long-term increases? The last few years of lottery aid is hard to follow, with decreases and caps and all that. But from 2001 to 2002, lottery aid went up only 3 percent. It was just 1.5 percent from 2000 to 2001. During the boom years, however, aid skyrocketed. 14, 13 and 11 percent in the years from1997 to 2000. So, if there's no cap and aid will stay maxed out, what happens when lottery revenues "slump" and 1 percent increases? Obviously there will be good years, but how do local officials whine about local aid in the future with no cap -- and how do they plan for years when fewer Keno games are played?