A second Superior Court judge came out in favor of Atlantic County in its quest to retain the status quo as it pertains to the payments-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement with the casino industry. The gaming halls had argued that the state should eliminate sports betting and iGaming revenues from the PILOT calculations., as only a small percentage of the revenue goes to the casinos, and the rest goes to third parties. The legislature agreed and it became law in December, according to the Press of Atlantic City.
But the result was detrimental to Atlantic County by as much as $26 million over the next five years. More to the point, the amended law violated a 2018 consent decree. So, the county sued the state. Judge Joseph Marczyk ruled on February 25 that the legislature’s amendment to the PILOT program did indeed violate that same consent order.
The state filed to have the court reconsider the decision, claiming Marczyk jumped ahead in the legal process by ruling that the consent agreement had been violated. By then Marczyk was on loan to the appellate courts so Judge Michael J. Blee handled the reconsideration motion. On May 2, he ruled that Marczyk was correct, denying the state request for reconsideration.
“Now you have two judges who agree that the state was wrong and that the taxpayers of this county were being treated extremely shabbily,” said County Executive Dennis Levinson said.
Assemblyman Don Guardian, who was the city’s mayor at the time the PILOT deal was worked out, told the same Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee that the casinos should abide by the deal they themselves had sought, according to NJ.Com
The PILOT deal was seen as a way for casinos to save money if the downward revenue trend had continued, which turned out not to be the case.
“Now we know that was a bad bet for casino operators, but we shouldn’t be paying for that bad bet,” Guardian said, referring to rising costs.
In other Atlantic City news, May 31 marks the expiration of the contract between Local 54 of UNITE HERE and eight of the nine casinos—Ocean Casino Resort abides by whatever contract the other casinos and the union sign. One of the major points is a pay raise for the workers. Labor shortages have resulted in higher wages in other industries. Union boss Bob McDevitt said he has 500 openings he cannot fill. Inflation has led to higher costs all around, so a dollar earned does not translate into a dollar spent.
“It is our intention to move our workers more firmly into the middle class,” McDevitt said. Union workers began wearing buttons on their uniforms last week that say, “Casino Workers Need A Raise.”
