Mayor Marty Small announces the budget news with CFO Toro Aboderin, Business Administrator Anthony Swan and Solicitor Mike Perugini.
Atlantic City taxpayers will see their taxes go down for the sixth straight year, the mayor announced Wednesday.
The $258.3 million budget — nearly $279.9 million with grants — carries a 3.4-cent tax decrease with a 1.415 tax rate, Marty Small said.
This comes a year after a 10.2-cent decrease, he noted to BreakingAC.
“Once again the city of Atlantic City is a leader in the clubhouse when it comes to fiscal responsibility,” Small said during a news conference.
“This didn’t happen by mistake,” Business Administrator Anthony Swan said. “We didn’t stumble into it, we planned it.”
That plan began with Swan tasked to cut $25 million after each department presented their needs.
He then handed it off to auditor Leon Costello and city Chief Financial Officer Toro Aboderin.
“Toro’s a genius with the budget,” Swan said. “We do find a way to get done most of the things the departments want to get done.”
A “quiet team member” is Budget Officer Tom Monaghan, Swan said. Who “keeps notes on everything that we do. He safeguards and watches over the budget every year.”
Swan said he tries not to get frustrated by the negative comments about the city and the work he said is being done, even if it’s not recognized.
“We have paved roads. We have fixed things you’ve asked us to fix,” he said. “We are working on every issue that comes up.”
The budget is a team effort, “and standing at the head of the team is the mayor,” Swan said. “He gives us our direction. He gives us our focus. He tells us what we need to do what the taxpayers want and we go out and make sure that happens.”
“We're not done,” the mayor said. “We are continuously finding ways to get more money to make our financial situation better.”
He said he is excited for next year “with a plethora of development projects scheduled to come online.”
“We really are going to be in a great place to have another tax decrease again,” he said.
“Imagine how much greater position we would be in if Atlantic City had a luxury tax,” Small said. “If Atlantic City got a parking tax. If Atlantic City got a piece of that multibillion dollar revenue stream that is sports gaming. We’re going to fight to finish that fight.”
The city currently has a 98.1 tax collection rate, Aboderin said.
She also noted that the city’s total debt has gone from more than $550 million in 2019 to about $328 million.
The mayor additionally thanked Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Jacqueline Suarez, Solicitor Mike Perugini, State Monitor Wes Swain and his chief of staff, Ernest Coursey, who recently was lauded by Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson for facilitating the talks that led to the PILOT settlement.
