It started out as your typical radio interview about Atlantic County finances and how much Atlantic City would be responsible for. Yawn.
LISTEN > But…on Thursday, Dec. 22, the Harry Hurley Radio Show added spice to an otherwise average politician interview. Hurley stoked an EPIC discussion with Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson by taking a call from Atlantic City Councilman George Tibbitt.
Atlantic City Councilman George Tibbitt: The Mayor can’t go to meetings by himself. He’s not a good negotiator. He got rolled by County Exec Denny Levinson by doing 13.5% deal with county. Mayor has no authority to make deal like that without bringing it to City Council.
Tibbitt: I have trouble getting numbers from our administration that has a problem with telling the truth.
Levinson: Deal was struck with Mayor Guardian in JAN 2016. It was signed. We’re gonna go with this.
Tibbitt: We would take Denny Levinson to run our city. Give the county Mayor Guardian. No give backs.
Thanks to the PILOT Bill, all non-casino taxpayers will handle tax increases for next 10 years.
Atlantic City families & business owners will carry additional burden for next decade.
Atlantic County Exec Levinson believes in using a county wide assessment. Many agree with him on that…except for those that want to keep control at the local level, which could lead to poor assessments, unfair valuations…..or worse.
Levinson: City got bamboozled with Borgata deal. The humiliation they suffered in court. ‘Your assessments are way off’ . $800 mil was the recent assessed value of Borgata. Then, half of Borgata sold for $900 mil. This shows that auditors were fairly close to original, more accurate assessment of Borgata… which was closer to $2 billion.
AC never accessed properly. AC always over-assessed to pay for escalating city expenses. Now, we’re stuck with ‘dumb’ pilot plan. Anything before 2015, AC can still be liable for refunds to casinos.
Tibbitt: How would you like to be me today Harry? I have the County Exec flying an F-16 over my head ……and Mayor Guardian & Council President Small are giving me a bucket of rocks on the beach to throw at him.
County Exec Levinson: I’m not sharpest tack in box. I rely on people around me. We have AA bond rating. AC is rated at junk.
From Press of Atlantic CIty: Gov. Chris Christie promised Levinson the 13.5 percent in an April news conference. But state officials have recently said the county must take on more services and responsibilities on behalf of the city to earn the larger PILOT share