Atlantic City to close down?!?!

[Blondy876]

NJ hasn't shut down before. And this is all about a one-penny increase to the sales tax, which doesn't apply to food or clothing anyway.

It's one thing when people make up stuff to make jokes about Jersey, does the state really need to create material for late-night monologues?

Your right, according to the AP

"The constitutional budget deadline of July 1 has been missed four times in five years. Nothing happened when deadlines were missed before, but the state never went past the morning of July 2 without an adopted budget. The shutdown lasts until a budget agreement is signed."

So we have passed the July 1 deadline but never had to shutdown.

 

[nuttylawprofessor]

CindyB, it sounds like your mom was part of the federal shut down.

The sales tax was raised to 7% about 10-15 years ago. It became a huge campaign issue and the sitting governor lost the next election. Whitman came into office, brought the tax down to 6% again, and sold most of the state's assets.

 

[Mr.MouseFan]

I am a Casino Host at the Atlantic City Hilton. Here's the deal as far as we know:

As mention before, without a balanced budget, the state is not authorized to spend money. This means that non-essential state employees will not be able to report to work. The Casino Control Commission which governs the casinos in Atlantic City are considered non-essential state employees. As such, the Commission workers will be forced to walk off the job on Wednesday. This also means that without the Commission, the casinos are not authorized to operate their casino floors.

What this means in regards to the Atlantic City Hilton is this:

If no balanced budget is passed by 8am on Wednesday morning, the casino floor and ALL restaurants will be closed until a budget is passed. The Hilton will also switch to a "skeleton crew" to operate the facility. The only thing that will remain open is our coffee shop and the hotel.

As for other casinos, I am not sure what their contingency plans are.

So, in addition to the 45,000 state workers that are furloughed, a potential 25,000+ just from the casinos will be forced out as well, including possibly yours truly.

If you've got plans to come to Atlantic City, I strongly suggest NOT canceling your reservations just yet! This is our busiest time of year. I suggest playing it by ear. Listen to the news, visit www.cbs3.com (Philly news as AC has no news station).

Drama is as drama does...LOL

 

[Tiggeroo]

ah yes, our beloved NJ governor. I couldn't take my son today to get a copy of his license as dmv is closed. It's a ploy on his part to get the biggest revenue source in the state to bring pressure on their representatives to approve this budget.
NJ has one of the highest incomes in the country, one of the highest home prices, property taxes, etc. The casinos bring in a huge amount of revenue to the state and yet we cannot balance a budget. We are near the bottom in higher education spending for the nation and part of this budget includes a major hit at colleges and universities. The state negotiated pay raises for professors and building programs. Now they have reneged on their commitment to pay for this. Gotta love this state.

 

[PrincessPatty]

I am a Casino Host at the Atlantic City Hilton. Here's the deal as far as we know:

As mention before, without a balanced budget, the state is not authorized to spend money. This means that non-essential state employees will not be able to report to work. The Casino Control Commission which governs the casinos in Atlantic City are considered non-essential state employees. As such, the Commission workers will be forced to walk off the job on Wednesday. This also means that without the Commission, the casinos are not authorized to operate their casino floors.

What this means in regards to the Atlantic City Hilton is this:

If no balanced budget is passed by 8am on Wednesday morning, the casino floor and ALL restaurants will be closed until a budget is passed. The Hilton will also switch to a "skeleton crew" to operate the facility. The only thing that will remain open is our coffee shop and the hotel.

As for other casinos, I am not sure what their contingency plans are.

So, in addition to the 45,000 state workers that are furloughed, a potential 25,000+ just from the casinos will be forced out as well, including possibly yours truly.

If you've got plans to come to Atlantic City, I strongly suggest NOT canceling your reservations just yet! This is our busiest time of year. I suggest playing it by ear. Listen to the news, visit www.cbs3.com (Philly news as AC has no news station).

Drama is as drama does...LOL

Thanks so much for this info. Let's hope everything can come to a compromise today!!

 

[sweet angel]

This may be a bit of an ignorant question, but why would the casino/hotels have to close their restaurants? What about spa services...are they closed down too?

 

[HoneyPooh]

According to the news, it's gaming only that will close. All non-gaming casino services will remain open. It's only because the state regulators will not be there and they don't regulate the non-gaming services. The lottery has already been stopped.

I'm just hoping that my state employee DH will be paid next week. He's working today even though it's a paid holiday in his contract but not only do we not know if he will be paid for today, we don't know when another paycheck will be forthcoming. He was signed up for comp time for Wednesday but they told him he would be donating those hours to the state and not receive anything for them so he crossed his name off the list! Don't think so!!!!!

What's frustrating is that the unions and employers are giving all different stories. Yesterday my DH had FOUR meetings with different bottom lines given at each. In the end the union rep said not to come to work today because it was a paid holiday but couldn't promise that anyone would be paid or not. In addition they were saying that if you didn't come in you would automaticaly furlough yourself. DH decided to just go in to work to be on the safe side.