Atlantic City property owners could see a tax cut of more than 5 percent this year after the state budget released some funds to the city and county, Mayor Don Guardian told WIBG 1020 in an interview on Monday.
City residents will be”very surprised at the considerable decrease, way beyond just the 5 percent that we had promised them,” Guardian said. The state last week passed its budget after a three-day partial shutdown caused by a political standoff over school funding and legislation related to the state’s largest health insurer.
The state’s new school funding package will help ease the tax burden for residents in Atlantic City and Atlantic County, Guardian explained. At the same time, the state has promised Atlantic City $13 million to fund tax appeals, which means the city will not have to issue new debt, he said. That additional funding, combined with the lower schools tax, will increase the city’s property-tax cut beyond the 5 percent he promised when he introduced the city’s budget earlier this year.
The extent of the tax cut will depend on the final numbers from the county and city tax assessment, which should be available some time this week, Guardian added. The Mayor has overseen multiple tax-rate increases since coming to office in early 2014 amid a city budget crisis, triggered by tax appeals filed by the struggling casinos. Guardian has spent most of his term pushing through spending cuts and trying to raise cash by selling assets, but the state last year took over Atlantic City’s government after deciding more cuts were needed to turn its finances around.