Atlantic County tax increase would bail out casinos

[Boyd]

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/...cle_f240d326-858f-11e4-a672-6bff965bf404.html

Property owners in all 23 Atlantic County municipalities would pay higher county taxes under a proposed recovery plan for Atlantic City that gives casinos millions of dollars in tax relief.

This seems really outrageous to me. Depending on exactly which plan is adopted, homeowners in most Atlantic County towns would pay between $10 to $100 in additional tax while some of the more affluent areas could pay several hundred more.

 

[bobpbx]

Preposterous is the word used by one legislator. I agree. Why not just tap the salaries of the high casino management?

 

[RednekF350]

AC is a dump and always will be a dump.
The city has one corridor of fake glitz surrounded by blocks of faded glory, crumbling buildings and a boardwalk whose storefront vendors look like they belong on a terrorist watch list.

And lest I forget, plenty of this:
http://www.atlanticcityha.org/PublicHousing.htm

Gamblers don't care where they piss their money away so Philadelphia is now putting a big dent in the market.
Pull the plug.

 

[Boyd]

Sad but true. I got a glimpse into AC street life when I served on a jury in a drug trial and it ain't pretty. Like Scott says, the gamblers are going somewhere else so I don't see how corporate welfare for the casinos will change that.

 

[GermanG]

I agree that this will do little to prevent the inevitable. The party has been over for AC's monopoly on gambling in this part of the country for a while now and nothing else they try to do there will draw the numbers that gambling once did. I rarely visit Atlantic City, but do spend quite a bit of time waterfowling within sight of it. Being out in the middle of the nearby refuge in the pre-dawn hours gives one a vivid sense of being in true wilderness, with the exception of the garish lights emanating from the casinos. I, for one, would not miss them if they vanished.

 

[bobpbx]

I remember when they announced the plan to build the Revel casino. I got the same feeling I did the day the government invaded Iraq. What a waste.

 

[dragoncjo]

Economy has changed too much for Atlantic City to exist going forward. The casinos are fueled by retired folk pissing their social security and pensions away. Pensions and some day social security won't exist, because stock market growth isn't sufficient to justify offering them and SS is a ponzi scheme. People from my generation and lower only savings will be 401k and what else they save. For those generations living in the northeast with a wife and kids, saving doesn't happen. People live on credit still, and to partake in AC you need actual cash which people from my generation don't have. Prices for everything remain high because of the burden and ease to finance or purchase with debt along with the massing quantative easing program. AC will never have good days a ahead unless something drasitically changes in the U.S. economy. The industry like everything else is simply smoke and mirrors.

My question is if AC does vanish what is the risk to the pine barrens? What are the risks to the pine barrens to sustain AC?

 

[Boyd]

Well if things are really as bleak as you predict, the pine barrens will be really crowded with homeless old people living in cardboard boxes….

 

[bobpbx]

AC will never have good days a ahead unless something drasitically changes in the U.S. economy.

I don't think it's so much that. Crime and sleaziness (along with the nagging feeling you are being both fleeced and stalked), in my opinion, are the main reason people avoid the town.

 

[46er]

Well if things are really as bleak as you predict, the pine barrens will be really crowded with homeless old people living in cardboard boxes….

I've already got mine built and ready to go!! But I think I may need to add a small addition.

 

[Gibby]

I feel that the main reason for revenue loss for Atlantic City is that the casinos there no longer have the luxury of being a monopoly and of being a unique attraction. Online gambling, the growth of casinos in Philadelphia and New York state took advantage of a changing market. As far as a tax payer bailout is concerned, even though I don't live in Atlantic county, I don't want my taxes bailing out private industry.

Last week I was in AC for a convention and it was a shell of it's formal self. The one thing that struck me the most was the price of food!

 

[46er]

Gambling in general is on the decline just about everywhere in this country. The new online option is also not doing well and that is not location dependent. I think its pretty simple; folks don't have a job, they prefer eating to gambling. As the casino's fold, even fewer have jobs in an area with few employment opportunities. Used to see lots of buses headed to AC on the GSP, very few now. Never been to a casino anywhere, have no interest.

As far as tax money bailing out private industry, take a look;

http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/...e-fiscal-wisdom-of-the-atlantic-city-bailout/

http://money.cnn.com/news/storysupplement/economy/bailouttracker/

 

[ecampbell]

The one thing that struck me the most was the price of food!

Explain.

 

[manumuskin]

Let em fold.All they do is take money from folks that already have little enough. How come when I can't pay my bills no one bails me out?Those casinos are the reason many acres of pinelands were levelled so people could live next to their gambling fix.Never gave em a dime,never will.

 

[dragoncjo]

Its still a hangover from the financial crisis. People are still hurting financially in the area. The wealth affect of the rising stock market over the last 2 years has provided people the feeling of some more wealth but much of it is non liquid and simply a number on a statement.

The competition of closer alternatives has certainly sucked money away from the casinos. The sleaziness is certainly a detractor and reason to not want to visit, but AC has always been sleazy since i've been of age to go there.

But still think its a lack of actual demand for casinos, mostly based off a lack of excess surplus capital. Many of the visitors were NYers and many of the people working in NYC make money in the financial sector. The financial sector is hurting despite a recovering domestic market. Post college kids are saddled with loans and and lack of a great job market to get hired into, albeit improving. My friends and I went to AC every weekend after college but we had good jobs in a better market pre crash.

I think AC needs to consolidate and is doing that with all these bankruptcies. It will survive in some sense going forward, but its best days are obviously behind it. I still think sports gambling could add some growth back, but outside of that see no possibility of a complete recovery.

 

[manumuskin]

I wish I understood all that Dragon.I"m just basically against syphilisation.Pay no attention to this man behind the keyboard.

 

[Gibby]

Explain.

Items on the menus and in the local corner stores where priced significantly higher than what I have seen in comparable areas. It ranged from only two dollars to twelve dollars higher. Come on, I had to laugh at a ten dollar cup cake.

 

[dragoncjo]

Al, don't pay any attention to me either. This is just some slight dragon rage built up, ha.

 

[ecampbell]

Items on the menus and in the local corner stores where priced significantly higher than what I have seen in comparable areas. It ranged from only a two dollars to over twelve dollars higher. Come on, I had to laugh at a ten dollar cup cake.

That ought to chase the rest of them away.

 

[46er]

Items on the menus and in the local corner stores where priced significantly higher than what I have seen in comparable areas. It ranged from only a two dollars to over twelve dollars higher. Come on, I had to laugh at a ten dollar cup cake.

Don't you understand? That was a gourmet cupcake! Sheeeesh!!