A Dec. 19 deadline for Atlantic City to pay the Borgata casino $62 million in tax refunds has passed and the casino owner is asking a judge to order the payment.
Atlantic City owes Borgata $153 million in total refunds ordered by a tax court and was required to pay $62 million by Saturday.
Borgata asked Atlantic County Superior Judge Julio Mendez Monday to order the refunds for years 2009 and 2010 be paid within 30 days.
"We are simply asserting our rights as a taxpayer to receive a refund of overpayments," said Joe Lupo, senior vice president of operations for the Borgata, in a statement. "We are also disappointed that the City is focusing solely on us [with its] attempt to resolve the situation. Atlantic City has paid refunds to every other property – except Borgata."
"Over the last several months the City and the State have been involved with negotiations with Borgata through the Emergency Manager and his general counsel," Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian said in a statement. "Hopefully, the recent filings by both the City and Borgata will help define the issues and bring both sides one step closer to a resolution."
Guardian told The Bond Buyer in September that successful negotiations with the Borgata would be needed to avoid filing for bankruptcy because the city cannot afford the payment. Borgata is Atlantic City's largest taxpayer and employer.
Atlantic City has been under emergency manager supervision since late January and is awaiting fate of a rescue package approved by the state legislature and conditionally vetoed by Gov. Chris Christie.
The Republican governor objected to three bills, including one that would direct $60 million in marketing funds from a cancelled partnership with the Atlantic City Alliance to pay debt service. He also requested changes to legislation that would establish a payments-in-lieu of taxes program for casinos over a 15-year period and reallocate the state's casino alternative tax to pay debt service on Atlantic City-issued municipal bonds.
The New Jersey Assembly on Dec. 17 approved three revised Atlantic City recovery bills, including one that would establish a PILOT program for the city's eight remaining casinos to aggregately pay $120 million annually over 15 years instead of a traditional property tax. The Senate is expected to consider the legislation in early January.
