Casinos reopen as N.J. ends budget crisis
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Governor signs $30.9 billion compromise state budget
NEW YORK (CNN) -- New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine signed a $30.9 billion
compromise state budget into law Saturday evening, formally ending a
financial impasse that essentially shut down the state and some of its
businesses.
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The news was especially good for the state's casinos, which began reopening
earlier Saturday and which add millions of dollars to the state's coffers
every week, Assemblyman Bill Baroni said.
Corzine signed an executive order allowing state departments and agencies to
start reopening Saturday, a spokeswoman said. Corzine, a Democrat, later
signed the budget agreement line by line.
The governor's move came after the state Senate passed the budget compromise
by a 23-17 vote early Saturday and the General Assembly followed with a 44-35
vote.
The budget crisis hit June 30, when lawmakers failed to adopt a new budget
by the constitutional deadline. As a result, the state closed all
"nonessential" government offices, including the Casino Control Commission,
the agency responsible for regulating gambling in Atlantic City.
For the first time since they began 24-hour operations in 1993, the city's
casinos were forced to close their gaming floors Wednesday, affecting 46,000
casino and hotel employees. The shutdown resulted in millions of dollars in
lost profits and tax revenue for the state.
The commission asked inspectors to report to the tourist resort's 12 casinos
to reopen Saturday morning, spokesman Dan Heneghan said.
A budget compromise was reached Thursday after six days of contentious
partisan debate.
The agreement will raise the state sales tax from 6 percent to 7 percent and
use half the $1.1 billion that it will raise to help lower property taxes,
according to The Associated Press.
Baroni called the dispute "an unmitigated disaster for the state."
According to Baroni, New Jersey earns an average of $1.3 million per day in
gambling tax revenue -- an amount that does not include sales tax and other
revenue received from Atlantic City's gaming and tourism industry.
Heneghan said Atlantic City's casinos earned an average profit of $16.3
million per day in July 2005. He said profits this year likely would be a
similar amount. Official numbers are not yet available.
CNN's Stacey Francisco contributed to this report
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