\nATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) \u2013 A plan commissioned by Gov. Chris Christie to help Atlantic City calls for setting predictable tax payments for casinos, temporarily freezing taxes on non-gambling property, giving schools more aid if they reduce costs and temporarily halting contributions to employee pension plans.<\/p>\n
\tThe commission the governor appointed to study the resort town\u2019s future released details Thursday of its recommendations, none of which the governor has committed himself to yet.<\/p>\n
\tThe centerpiece is a state-appointed emergency manager for the city, with \u201cextraordinary supervisory powers\u201d over its spending and taxing. The commission also recommends a public-private development corporation like the one that helped New Brunswick.<\/p>\n
\tThe effort comes as four of the city\u2019s 12 casinos have closed this year and a fifth is on the verge of shutting down.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cExtraordinary state and local support is required in the transition phase of the Atlantic City revitalization strategy focusing on immediate activities with a high probability of success, including balancing the municipal and school cost structure toward \u2018new normal,\u2019\u201d panel Chairman Jon Hanson wrote in the introduction.<\/p>\n
\tProperty tax reform is a key component of the plan, aimed at letting each party know what to expect in future years within reason.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cHigh effective rates and a rapidly declining tax base have created an immense financial burden for residents, local businesses and the casino industry,\u201d the report read. The \u201centire Atlantic City gaming industry is at risk as each incremental casino closure results in a greater tax increase than revenue increase for the surviving casinos.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThe plan calls for letting casinos make \u201calternative tax payments\u201d for seven to 10 years, recognizing that any additional short-term gambling revenue is likely to be \u201cnegligible.\u201d The proposal is similar to one floated earlier this week by state Senate President Steven Sweeney, and seems to indicate the Republican governor and Democrat-controlled legislature can agree on measures to help the city.<\/p>\n
\tBut casinos would have to be current on their taxes to participate in the alternative tax program. Revel and Trump Plaza, both of which closed in September, and the Taj Mahal, which could close Dec. 12, owe a combined $30 million in unpaid taxes.<\/p>\n
\tThe plan also calls for increased state aid to Atlantic City schools, provided that they or the emergency manager can reduce per-pupil costs from the current $26,000 to the state average of $18,000.<\/p>\n
\tAtlantic City would be freed from making pension payments for three years, saving $71.1 million and reducing the need for costly borrowing. The plan also considers regionalizing Atlantic City\u2019s police and fire departments to save $25 million a year.<\/p>\n
\tIn addition, the plan envisions redirecting the $30 million currently used by the Atlantic City Alliance to promote the city to help fund the new development corporation, ACDevCo; having the state-controlled Casino Reinvestment Development Authority take over planning, zoning and code enforcement from the city; and merging the state Division of Gaming Enforcement with the Casino Control Commission.<\/p>\n
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ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) \u2013 A plan commissioned by Gov. Chris Christie to help Atlantic City calls for setting predictable tax payments for casinos, temporarily freezing taxes on non-gambling property, giving schools more aid if they reduce costs and temporarily…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-casino-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8314\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}