Governor Chris Christie’s first summit on the future of Atlantic City in September reportedly gave marching orders to a wide range of business, political, labor and community leaders to come up with proposals to help save the fading resort.
At the next summit—scheduled for November 12—the coalition of leaders will begin hearing those proposals.
Jon Hanson, appointed by Christie to head the effort, has been collecting the proposals since the original September meeting.
Hanson told the Press of Atlantic City that the summit meetings are a “work in progress,” and that the second meeting should bring plan for the resort into sharper focus.
Hanson told the paper two major themes have emerged in the various proposals—controlling government costs in the city and slowing down the growth of property taxes.
“I think the primary effort is that the cost of government in Atlantic City is not sustainable from the revenue sources from property taxes. That seems to be on the government side as well as the taxpayers’ side,” he said.
Property taxes rose 29 percent in Atlantic City this year in the face of a number of successful tax appeals by casinos and the closing of four casinos in the city.
