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NORTHAMPTON — Saying a proposed casino in Springfield will do more harm than good to Northampton’s bustling economy, the City Council Thursday agreed to allow the mayor to hire a consultant to complete a report that proves their position right.

In approving Mayor David J. Narkewicz’s request to spend $22,000 to hire a firm to study potential negative economic impacts of MGM Resorts International’s proposed $800 million casino in Springfield’s South End, councilors agreed that they need some “hard data” to back up what they believe to be true about how casinos affect surrounding communities.

“I expect the report will reveal all the things I believe we all know in our heart of hearts is true,” City Council President William H. Dwight said.

Dwight and others noted that casinos are designed to attract customers, usually the most vulnerable, onto their campuses and keep them there to gamble by offering cheap food and entertainment. They insist casinos will dramatically shrink the pool of customers visiting Northampton, with one business owner telling the council during public comment that a casino in Springfield would be “devastating to anything around it.”

“The money goes into the hole and it does not come out of the hole,” said Bob McGovern, who owns Packard’s on Masonic Street. “All roads lead to the casino.”

The city has been trying to negotiate a mitigating community agreement with MGM, but Narkewicz told the council that the company has “not been receptive to conversations.”

After the Dec. 31 deadline for would-be casino developers to apply to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission expires, the mayor said Northampton will likely petition the commission to have the city designated as a surrounding community. Communities can file a petition no later than 10 days after final applications are submitted.

Narkewicz said he intends to use the data from the independent study should he be called to appear before the commission on the matter. He believes Northampton qualifies for mitigation under a section of the state gaming regulations that allow for such agreements if they can prove a casino will have negative economic impacts on local, retail, entertainment and services businesses.

The city needs more than strong beliefs to back up its claims, however, the council agreed.

“Standing before the Gaming Commission, we are going to need more than a feeling,” Narkewicz said.

MGM is negotiating mitigation agreements with eight communities that could be impacted by the casino project, all of which are in Hampden County close to Springfield. Deals with communities closer to Springfield will most likely focus on traffic, public safety and infrastructure issues. The company reached an agreement with Ludlow this week that calls for the company to pay the town $75,000 a year.

The independent study would provide information in a variety of areas ranging from hotel room occupancy to spending patterns and how much discretionary income people have.

Narkewicz is hopeful that the city will be reimbursed by the Gaming Commission for the study and other legal fees associated with casino negotiations. If that doesn’t happen, he said the local business community has pledged to help fund the $22,000 expense.