Atlantic City's Golden Nugget Casino Drops Suit Threat Against Tax Aid Plan

Atlantic City's Golden Nugget casino dropped a threat Monday to file a lawsuit blocking a package of tax relief for Atlantic City's eight casinos. The Golden Nugget said last week that its annual property taxes would have risen from $4.7 million to $8.1 million under a bill introduced by the president of the state senate. But changes made since then would help any casino that winds up being billed more under the payment in lieu of taxes program than it did this year. At issue is one of several state-led efforts to help Atlantic City's crumbling casino industry and its even worse municipal finances. The legislation allows the eight surviving casinos make payments in lieu of property taxes for 15 years. The key to the plan is the tax stabilization bill, which lets casinos know how much they will have to pay each year in lieu of property taxes and lets the city know how much revenue it can expect. A different bill included in the package would redirect that investment tax, currently used by the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, to pay off $25 million to $30 million of Atlantic City's debt each year. Other measures would increase school aid to Atlantic City, mandate a minimum level of benefits for casino workers and use the Atlantic City Alliance's $30 million annual budget to help the city in other ways.