Mel Evans / AP
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie addresses a gathering as he lays out the problems he says Atlantic City is not addressing Wednesday, April 6, 2016, in Atlantic City, N.J. The Republican governor and Democratic Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto are wrangling about giving the state authority over the city’s finances.
Sunday, May 29, 2016 | 2 a.m.
Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey signed legislation Friday that will help Atlantic City, the struggling seaside resort, avoid bankruptcy and give local officials time to develop a recovery plan before the state intervenes.
Christie had been a forceful advocate for the state taking broad control in Atlantic City as it contended with mounting debts and the closing of several casinos in recent years. The governor had questioned whether city officials had been willing to enact the deep cuts needed to resolve the city’s financial crisis.
On Friday, Christie said that the new measures would hold officials in Atlantic City accountable and allow the state to take the reins if the city falls short in mapping out a turnaround plan.
“For Atlantic City officials, the final countdown starts today,” Christie, a Republican, said in a statement. “They know that if they fail to change their tendencies of wasteful spending and mismanagement, my administration will be empowered to immediately step in and do the job for them.”
After months of political rancor, lawmakers reached an agreement earlier this week, and on Thursday, the State Legislature approved the measures, which give Atlantic City five months to come up with a balanced budget for 2017 and create a five-year plan that puts the city on a path toward financial stability.
Atlantic City would receive both a loan from the state and regular payments from casinos to help stabilize its finances. The money from casinos would amount to $120 million in the first year and increase by at least 2 percent each year for the next nine years, lawmakers said.
The legislation does not spare Atlantic City from having to make deep spending cuts and allows the city to use early retirement packages to try to reduce its public work force. The city would also have to identify ways to increase revenue and reduce debt, and it would have to make required payments to the local school district and Atlantic County.
Atlantic City’s mayor and some other city officials said they supported the measures because they believed handing over authority to the state would disenfranchise the voters of Atlantic City. Some analysts questioned whether the local officials would be able to meet the demands of the legislation.
Donald Guardian, the mayor of Atlantic City, said he was aware of such skepticism, but said he thinks the city — and its employees and others in the community — were committed to fixing the financial situation.
“It’s never easy to cut costs,” Guardian, a Republican, said in an interview. But, he added, “We’ve been standing together for the last six months.
Guardian said the city plans to sell vacant properties in an auction this summer. It has already raised fees for city permits and will add more parking meters, among other measures. The city, he said, was “looking under every stone to find ways we can either reduce costs or bring in income.”
But he acknowledged that tougher calls still had to be made.
“I think it’s going to be a tough journey,” Guardian said, “but I think we’re going to be well-prepared and we’ll have some success.”
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