For example, the Senate version would allow casinos to opt out of the PILOT program if new casinos are built in North Jersey.
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Atlantic City’s financial crisis was brought about by the contraction of its casino industry, mainly due to ever-growing competition from casinos in nearby states. The state house hearing room was packed with union members supporting Prieto’s bill, which would delay the possibility of breaking Union contracts.
Greenwald has written two open letters to the speaker the past week warning of impending doom to Atlantic City and urging Prieto to post the original takeover bill.
Prieto said he hopes to introduce the measure before Thursday’s voting session.
Prieto has objected that the bill unfairly gives Christie the authority to end union contracts. Those payments would total $120 million annually.
Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto is calling on Senate President Steve Sweeney to change legislation allowing the Christie administration to takeover Atlantic City’s government.
“They’re getting an ability to come out of the woods”, he said. The Assembly’s judiciary committee unanimously approved it Thursday.
“When you look at this bill it creates a team approach”, Brown said.
Also in 2014, Donald Trump successfully sued one of the casinos that bore his name because he didn’t want to be associated with it. Trump told CNNMoney that he hadn’t even been to Atlantic City “in many years”. Prieto says that would needlessly violate the “core” Democratic principle of protecting workers’ rights.
Guardian says the city will continue to find ways to reduce expenses and increase revenue.
Prieto ignored Christie’s calls all week to post the original takeover bill. In return, Levinson said, the governor had “guaranteed” the county would get 13.5 percent of the city’s taxes, above the required 10.6, a difference of $4 million a year. “We need to implement that plan right away”. “The city is largely insolvent already and kicking the can down the road on real solutions is part of the reason we have reached this point”. The remaining casinos, meanwhile, have also successfully challenged their tax assessments, helping to reduce a ratable base that once totaled more than $20 billion to just over $7 billion.
The cash crunch has Atlantic City headed for a shutdown, slated for April 8 through May 2, the day the city receives its next quarterly tax payments.
A ratings agency has downgraded Atlantic City’s low-rated debt once again.
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Guardian, holding his second set of dueling Christie news conferences this week, the first in Trenton, said the governor’s words about him disappointed him, but “I’ve realized that’s how politicians talk”. “I am not going to permit the taxpayers of the state of New Jersey to be taken for a ride by Atlantic City”, said Christie.
