Someone asked me the other day whether the state will just let Atlantic City get on with things now, since the city somehow on Monday pulled the rabbit out of the hat and produced a recovery plan, as demanded by state officials and ahead of their schedule. Who knows. As Jitney Guy noted on Twitter (see below), it depends in large part on the winds in Trenton, which we know have changed, but you’d need some kind of hyperactive weather vane to have a clue what direction they’re pointing in now.
All we know is summed up in this infographic: basically, there are still a few questions. Firstly, as Amy Rosenberg noted on Tuesday, no one knows whether Borgata will come through on its commitment to consider reducing the size of the settlement it is owed from previously overpaid taxes. Secondly, no one really has a clue how the state is going to view the plan. And thirdly, even if it does all go through, it’s contingent on Atlantic City being able to issue money at better rates (and with state support) in the debt market, and that’s dependent on the winds in the financial markets. Which can change a lot in the next couple of months, with a big election and all.
The Jitney Guy made the point that this is nothing new for Atlantic City. The erstwhile Queen of Resorts has been teetering from recovery plan to recovery plan like a drunk on a bar crawl for the best part of half a century, pausing only to lose its taxpayers’ wallets in the office of some fortunate advisors every few years.
Watching @_Hetrick live-tweet AC’s Recovery Plan presentation while trying to remember how many plans the State produced and then shelved /1
— Jitney Guy (@JitneyGuy) October 26, 2016
Didn’t we have a Secret Summit Plan or was that the Hanson Report? Can’t remember. Then we had a Tourism District Master Plan. /2
— Jitney Guy (@JitneyGuy) October 26, 2016
Let’s not forget the $2.6 Million Plan developed by Earnst & Young and/or the Two Kevins that was ignored by everyone at the State level /3
— Jitney Guy (@JitneyGuy) October 26, 2016
We also had legislative plans that were agreed upon and then rejected and then modified and then kinda adopted by State actors /4
— Jitney Guy (@JitneyGuy) October 26, 2016
And now we have a plan that was cooperatively developed by 3 separate private experts, with the benefit of all seeing those other plans /5
— Jitney Guy (@JitneyGuy) October 26, 2016
And the political realities of Christie and Sweeney have significantly changed since the beginning of all this which means I dunno what /6
— Jitney Guy (@JitneyGuy) October 26, 2016
Plus it looks like North Jersey casinos are going down the tubes which could mean the State loves us again or hates us more than ever /7
— Jitney Guy (@JitneyGuy) October 26, 2016
Yet nothing changed: We need State money to flow BACK to AC because we lost most of our property tax base and we can’t afford our government
— Jitney Guy (@JitneyGuy) October 26, 2016
So if the State takes over, which one of their plans will they implement? Or will they come up with a new one?
— Jitney Guy (@JitneyGuy) October 26, 2016