BOSTON — Facing budget crises, Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll and Gloucester Mayor Carolyn Kirk joined mayors and town leaders, labor unions and the owners of Suffolk Downs in forming a coalition to pressure lawmakers to pass Gov. Deval Patrick's plan to create three resort casinos.

Called the Massachusetts Coalition for Jobs and Growth, it also includes Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, the AFL-CIO of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Teachers Association and the Massachusetts Building Trades Council. It was announced at a press conference yesterday in Boston.

The coalition came together a week after Lt. Gov. Tim Murray met at the Statehouse with some 20 municipal officials, including the mayors of Amesbury, Beverly, Haverhill, Lawrence and Salem, to ask them to press their lawmakers to back the casino plan as a revenue maker for cities and towns.

Filed in October, Patrick's plan has languished in the Legislature. Driscoll, whose city required state approval to borrow $1 million to avoid school layoffs, said cities need the revenue casinos can generate.

"We need a consistent source of revenue," said Driscoll, who was at yesterday's press conference. "We're down police, we're down fire, we're obviously having a tough time in the school department."

Patrick estimates casinos will result in $2 billion a year in economic activity, $800 million in casino license fees, and $600 million a year in tax revenues. In his budget, Patrick proposed using $124 million from licenses to fill a projected shortfall in local aid, even though the plan hasn't been approved.

Gloucester's Kirk, who also was at the press conference, said her financially struggling city needs the money — it faces a $150 million tab for water and sewer improvements, something that will be a hard sell in a city that recently rejected an override of tax-limiting Proposition 21/2.

Kirk wants lawmakers to act.

"Somehow the Legislature hasn't gotten the revenue message yet," Kirk said.

Patrick contends licensing three resort casinos will create 20,000 permanent jobs that will pay on average $45,000 a year. It also believes another 30,000 construction jobs will be created.

Robert Haynes, president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, said his and other unions in the coalition would be "lobbying as hard as we can" for the casino plan.

"We are losing hundreds of thousands of young men and women to competing states," Haynes said.

Suffolk Downs wants one of the three casinos at its East Boston site. Chip Tuttle, chief operating officer at Suffolk Downs, said Massachusetts residents are spending millions a year in casinos in Connecticut they could spend here and create jobs.

"It's so silly that jobs and revenue are escaping to other states that could be here," Tuttle said.

To build public support for the governor's plan, the coalition is considering a television and radio campaign, although right now all that is up is a Web site. Money for the coalition's activities will come from coalition members. Lobbyist spending is typically disclosed publicly twice a year. Spokesman Larry Carpman said the group might disclose its finances at the time of a media campaign. Cities and towns aren't being asked to kick in.

Debra Silberstein, an Andover School Committee member, acknowledged cities and towns are desperate for cash but said casinos are not the answer.

"This may be a short-term solution to a long-term problem," Silberstein said. Casinos would provide a boost to revenues at the start but, like the Lottery's revenues, could level off or dip over time, Silberstein said.

Opposing the casino bill is Casino Free Mass, a coalition that includes the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, the Massachusetts Council of Churches, the Massachusetts Family Institute and the League of Women Voters.

Doug Bailey, a spokesman for Casino Free Mass, said states such as New Jersey and Connecticut, where casino gambling is legal, still have budget crises. Moreover, he said independent studies suggest three casinos won't generate the jobs Patrick estimates.

"It will not do what these people say it will," Bailey said.

But local officials said that even if the projections are off, they said they still support a casino.

"I haven't delved into all of the facts of the job and revenue projections," Driscoll said. "Even if you discount the governor, they're pretty substantial."

Kirk said she's not concerned about the governor's estimates falling short.

"I think the key is not to get hung up on the numbers," Kirk said. "It will provide additional revenue. ... It's more than we have now in front of us. Any little bit will help Gloucester."

Driscoll said the coalition was not discussed at that meeting.

At least one junior member of the governor's economic development team was at the press conference. However, Jay Ash, Chelsea city manager, said the governor's political committee has not been involved financially or in planning the coalition.