After Senate President Steve Sweeney introduced a bill that would give the state vast control over Atlantic City's finances, city officials gathered outside the City Hall to ditch the proposal for a state takeover of the gambling resort's finances.
The proposal says the state Local Finance Board "may in its exclusive discretion assume, reallocate to, and vest in the Director, any of the functions, powers, privileges, and immunities of the governing body of Atlantic City for five years." It appears to leave few responsibilities to Atlantic City's elected officials.
Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian has called a state plan to cede control of the fiscally distressed gambling hub a "fascist dictatorship."
He addressed to hundreds of residents and city worker, "The final piece of legislation that the state presented to us was far from a partnership. It was much worse. It was absolutely a fascist dictatorship."
"This is an insult to democracy and to American citizens living in Atlantic City. Today it's Atlantic City, but tomorrow it will be Paterson or Trenton. The civil rights of our citizens are being trampled on. Taking away the Constitutional rights of residents would never happen in Mendham, Short Hills, or Livingston."
Guardian said his administration made $25 million in cuts to last year's budget and is amendable to further savings. But he said the plan now being considered in Trenton strips his residents of their civil and Constitutional rights, and urged the full Legislature to "vote this bill down."
Sweeney, who has been spearheading the state's effort to intervene in Atlantic City, recently announced a new version of the legislation, which would put the state in charge of the city's finances, including the ability to cancel public worker contracts and sell off city assets, including the water utility and declare bankruptcy.
City officials conceded that they were suffering financially due to a shrinking tax base and suffering casino industry.
Nevertheless, officials counter-proposed they might petition the state for a bankruptcy declaration if they cannot negotiate a settlement with the Borgata Casino Hotel & Spa and mentioned that local lawmakers should be allowed to solve that problem themselves.
The City owes the Borgata, its most profitable casino, at least $160 million of property tax appeals. The city missed a recent deadline to pay a $62.5 million portion of that, prompting the Borgata to skip its $7.5 million tax payment for the first quarter of 2016.
The proposed bill aims to stabilize the city's property tax base which has shrunk dramatically because of gambling competition from neighboring states. Four of the city's 12 casinos that shut in 2014 remain closed.
