Atlantic City is facing another major financial challenge due to casino tax appeals as billionaire Carl Icahn has filed at least 10 tax appeals on assessments for his casinos there dating from 2014.
The Press of Atlantic City reports that Icahn has filed tax assessment appeals for this year on the closed Trump Plaza and Trump Taj Mahal casinos. he now has appeals on both properties for tax years 2014 through 2017. He also has appealed Tropicana Atlantic City’s assessment for 2015 and 2016.
Icahn did not tell the paper the amount he is seeking.
“Since we are currently in discussions, I don’t think it’s appropriate to comment,” Icahn said.
A spokesperson for the state Department of Community Affairs—which currently oversees the city’s finances—told the Press that negotiations with Icahn are ongoing. Icahn’s former Trump properties are not included in a payment in lieu of taxes plan now in place for the resort’s operating casinos.
“We’re in discussions with Mr. Icahn and his representatives right now about trying to resolve outstanding monetary issues regarding his casinos,” state overseer Jeffrey Chiesa said April 5.
The report comes after the state team overseeing the city’s finances recently reached a $72 million tax settlement with Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa. The city had owed that casino $165 million in tax refunds.
Governor Chris Christie said recently the state is willing to negotiate with Icahn “the same way we negotiated with the folks at Borgata.”
“But what everyone needs to understand is there’s not much money left here,” Christie said.
According to the Press, last year, Icahn’s companies paid the city more than $32.7 million in property taxes. The city assessed Taj Mahal at $812 million in 2014, according to tax records. It’s now assessed at $225 million. Trump Plaza’s value fell from $209 million in 2014, when it closed, to nearly $31 million in 2017. The city assessed Tropicana at $580 million this year, down from $680 million in 2014.
Icahn has sold the Taj Mahal to Hard Rock International, which plans to spend $375 million refurbishing and reopening the casino. A sale price was not disclosed.
In another matter involving the city’s finances, Christie said the state will not consider increasing Atlantic County’s portion of payments in lieu of taxes now made by city casinos.
County officials has expected to receive 13.5 percent of the about $120 million the city’s casinos make in payments, but the state has lowered that to 10.4 percent. Several county mayors have called for a lawsuit to challenge that payment.
“My deal with the Atlantic County executive was that he would get 13.5 percent if the county was an active participant in helping to reform Atlantic City,” Christie said, saying County Executive Dennis Levinson did not help the city face its monetary crisis. “What services has he stepped up and said he’s willing to run?”
Levinson, however, said the county has made several offers to the state to help the city, including bidding on trash collection services in the city and offering to buy the city’s Municipal Utilities Authority for $100 million. The state rejected both those offers.
