A lawsuit between Atlantic County, several county municipalities, and the state over the Payments in Lieu of Property Taxes Atlantic City casinos pay has been accepted by all parties, the county announced Wednesday.
Atlantic County will receive 13.5 percent of Atlantic City’s casino payments in lieu of taxes for six years from 2019 through 2024.
The details were originally spelled out in a letter last week from County Executive Dennis Levinson to all mayors in the county.
As a result, the county will receive about $37.2 million more from the PILOT over 10 years than it would have received if the county share stayed at the state-set 10.4 percent, according to previous press reports.
The county would stay at 10.4 percent of $120 million for the PILOT’s first year of 2017, then go up to 12 percent of this year’s $130 million payment, and back to 12 percent in the final two years of 2025 to 2026, according to previous reports.
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The law requires the program to be reviewed in 2025, and it could be discontinued or changed at that time.
“This settlement helps to correct the glaring inadequacies of the PILOT legislation. Instead of costing non-casino taxpayers $40 million, they will now realize more than $30 million through the life of the PILOT,” County Executive Dennis Levinson said in a statement on Wednesday.
The municipalities involved in the suit were Absecon, Egg Harbor Township, Hamilton Township, Somers Point, Ventnor and Weymouth Township.
The state will now finalize the language of the agreement but cannot alter the terms of the settlement that provide the 13.5%, according to a statement from the county.
“Once all official settlement documents are signed we can introduce our 2018 county budget to the Freeholder Board,” Levinson said. “We were unable to do so without knowing the amount of PILOT funds the county would be receiving.”
Staff Writer John DeRosier contributed to this report.
