The referendum question asks city residents whether they want to replace Atlantic City’s current government led by an elected mayor and nine-member City Council with a smaller five-member council that would appoint a city manager.<\/p>\n
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The campaign is backed by Resorts Casino Hotel owner Morris Bailey, and has the support of Unite Here Local 54, the casino union that represents some 10,000 workers in town.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The committee says FBI data reveals Atlantic City is ranked the 12th-most dangerous city in New Jersey. “This year, taxes increased an average of 57 percent ($637) on a home valued at $150,000, and four out of the last eight mayors have been indicted while in office,” the Atlantic City Residents for Good Government argues.<\/p>\n
Former one-term Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian (R), who is now the business administrator for Toms River, recently endorsed the referendum.<\/p>\n
“Atlantic City has a lot of big city issues, and you can’t keep trying to run it as a small Jersey Shore town,” Guardian said. “The best way is to find someone with the experience and the administrative background that really knows how to run a municipality.”<\/p>\n
One Change Made<\/b><\/h2>\n
Hard Rock CEO Jim Allen says the town is in worse shape today than in 2017, when his company purchased the shuttered Trump Taj Mahal for $50 million and invested $562 million to turn the Boardwalk resort into Hard Rock Atlantic City.<\/p>\n
The executive hasn’t officially backed the change of government push, but recently lambasted local officials for not even being able to change light bulbs in street lights that have been out for months.<\/p>\n
That’s about to change. This week, the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority and the city announced it’s executing a citywide streetlight repair project, with allocated funds not to exceed $500,000.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Atlantic City government referendum vote that, if passed, would change how the town administers itself, is being postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The special election was slated for March 31. But with the state on lockdown, the referendum vote is being postponed six weeks to May 12. However, no polling stations will be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":130641,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Vote to Change Atlantic City Government Postponed, Backed by Casinos<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n