Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian’s Speech Regarding A Possible State Takeover from February 22, 2016.
Good afternoon. When I ran for office three years ago, I promised to be a diplomat on behalf of Atlantic City, leading without arrogance or vindictiveness. There is no question that Atlantic City needs to work cooperatively with the State to develop a plan for a road to recovery. We attended several meetings with the State on this subject of a partnership. We came to the table with an open mind. We shared with them all of our concerns, and a draft bill in regards to enhanced supervision by the state and a plan.
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All we asked for was for them to hold up their end of the bargain.
Re-direct casino funding towards helping us to reduce our debt and providing comparable assistance the state provides to 35 other cities. However, in the end, all of our concerns fell on deaf ears. The final piece of legislation that the State presented to us was far from a partnership. It was worse. Some would even say fascist. The plan would allow the State to appoint a non-elected official to:
- Unilaterally terminate all collective bargaining agreements;
- Unilaterally sell, lease or monetize all Atlantic City owned assets;
- Unilaterally abolish non-elected positions and terminate all unprotected employees;
- Unilaterally veto the minutes of city council;
- Unilaterally control all of the city’s legal affairs; and
- Unilaterally enter into agreements and professional contracts without any input from Atlantic City’s locally elected leaders.
This is an insult to democracy and to American citizens living in Atlantic City. This is an issue that affects all of us. Today it’s Atlantic City; tomorrow it could be Patterson or Newark. To paraphrase a local saying, What Atlantic City makes Trenton takes”. That is why we are here today.
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We cannot stand here today and accept any bill with the broad, overreaching powers as the one presented to us last week contained. It is unacceptable. The civil rights of our citizens are being trampled on. We call on every member of the State Senate and Assembly to live up to their solemn oath to defend the constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey. Taking away the civil rights of those that live in Atlantic City would never happen in Mendham or Short Hills or Linwood.
Why do you feel that resident of Atlantic City do not deserve the same constitutional rights?
- If you believe in civil rights for all Americans, vote down this bill.
- If you believe in home rule and democracy, vote down this bill.
- If you believe in the rights of working men and women to elect individuals to represents their interests, vote down this bill.
- If you support the dedicated police and fire fighters in all our communities, vote down this bill.
Up until this point, I have worked very hard to have an excellent working relationship with the State. Some in Trenton says Atlantic City only knows how to say no. Since I became Mayor, I have accepted over 175 of the State’s recommendations to reduce costs and restructure our local government.
The result has been a budget reduction of $25 million in 2015 and anticipated $25 million in 2016, reducing the tax payer funded workforce at City Hall by more than 300 individuals, reduced the number of City-take-home vehicles, finding sub-contracting programs that can be done at a lower cost, finding new sources of revenue beyond property taxes, seeking best practices of other municipalities to provide services at a lower cost, and drastically reducing the cost of police and firefighters through open and frank dialogues with their respective unions, both of whom stand here today with us.
This represents the Atlantic City part of a plan for recovery. But all these cuts and staff reduction cannot make up for the 70% decline in assessed values – a loss of more than $14 billion dollars.
All these cuts and staff reduction cannot make up for the over saturation of casino gaming in the Northeast. These are unprecedented challenges. That is why we come to the table to work with the State to find reasonable and practicable solutions that we can all agree on. Atlantic City cannot face these challenges alone.
What does a partnership look like? Look no further than the city and federal government. All three of our representatives and their staffs, the offices of Senator Menendez, Senator Booker, and Congressman LoBiondo, have partnered with Atlantic City in tremendous ways. They have been a great partner in securing critical grants helping us to fund the bulk heading and sea walls projects, rebuilding the boardwalk, funding programs to reduce flooding and covering the cost of 85 firefighters. Anytime one of our residents has an issue, we can pick up the phone and call them and immediately receive a phone call back. Anytime they need information from us, we share it with them instantly. That is what a true partnership looks like.
As we stand here today, the partner missing at this table of recovery is the State of New Jersey. Although we have cooperated and follow their instructions on financing and budgets, we were promised that they would correct the antiquated formula for casinos to help fund our massive debt due to loss of ratables.
You know the system is bad and antiquated when the casinos themselves have agreed to allow $30 million in 2015 and $30 in 2016 from marketing and $15 million form alternate taxes be redirected to Atlantic City to help lower debt, as well as agreeing to pay $120 million dollars as a base payment in lieu of property taxes with the promise of no more tax appeals for ten years.
Casino tax appeals alone will cost the city in an additional $25-million-dollar loss in assessment in both 2015 and 2016. That is $70 million last year and this year that can be redirected from casinos. The legislature had these bills prepared in 2014 but they were never signed by the Governor. When brought up again with the changes that the Governor suggested, they were vetoed once again. This is truly disheartening. So much time has been lost. And because so much time has been lost, the City of Atlantic City has now been put in a position of running out of money within the next two months.
The other major area in which the State has been missing at the table is the failed negotiations over the Borgata tax appeals. For over a year the State has told us “don’t worry, we will negotiate on your behalf”. Well, we stand here a year later and there still is no negotiated settlement. The judge has allowed Borgata not to pay their legally obligated taxes for this quarter and order the state to be part of the negotiations which start this week. But instead, we now face bankruptcy.
If after the 45 days of court appointed mediation there is still no resolution, the City will be faced with no choice but to petition the Local Finance Board for a declaration of bankruptcy. The sad irony is that we have a casino industry that wants to redirect their funds to the City of Atlantic City to help avoid all these doomsday scenarios. In other words, there is a reasonable and practical solution out there, but that path has not been chosen by the State yet.
I as the Mayor and City Council members behind me represent our residents. We all want a solution that is both fair and reasonable. That is why we will be working with other elected officials within the State legislature to present a bill that presents a comprehensive plan that would allow Atlantic City to keep its sovereignty and at the same time hold us to a higher standard of recovery. This bill would give the State authority in matters dealing with finances but would call for establishing a committee representing the Governor, Senate President, Speaker, Mayor, City Council, residents, businesses and faith based leaders.
This bill would call for a specific plan (which is lacking now) to not only include goals but benchmarks that the city would be obligated to meet or face additional State control. This bill will be fair and even-handed. This is the type of bill that we were hoping the State would be presenting us. Rest assured that Atlantic City is not a party of NO. We are a City that wants solutions. We are a City that continues to come to the table with an open mind.
I want to thank everyone who has continued to stand by us. I want to thank all of our partners on the different levels of government, including Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker, Congressman LoBiondo, State representatives Vince Mazzeo and Chris Brown, Senator Ron Rice and other members of the legislature. I want to thank my directors and all the hard working employees at City Hall. I want to thank our Police, Fire, and Beach Patrol Chiefs, and the unions and their leadership. I want to thank our clergy and faith-based leaders. I want to thank our Atlantic City residents.
I want to thank everyone who has worked with us, marched with us, prayed with us, and spoke out with us against injustice. We will continue to fight for the rights of our residents. Please continue to stand with us as we continue to come to the table with an open mind and open hand of partnership to find solutions. May we continue to ask God for wisdom and discernment, and may God continue to bless Atlantic City.
Thank you very much.
Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian