Casinos could reopen Friday night
By JOHN CURRAN, Associated Press Writer Fri Jul 7, 7:16 AM ET
Committees in the Senate and Assembly were set to consider the legislation Friday, clearing the way for a budget vote. Corzine would have to sign an executive order to formally end the shutdown, which also closed state agencies, parks, lottery sales and threw more than 80,000 people out of work.
The casino closings, the first in the 28-year history of legal gambling in New Jersey, turned normally bustling slot parlors and blackjack pits into oddly silent areas roped off and protected by security guards.
Casino inspectors, required by law to keep tabs on the games, remained on the job through the holiday weekend but were ordered to stay home beginning Wednesday.
That forced some 36,000 dealers, cocktail servers and slot machine attendants of Atlantic City's 12 casino-hotels off the job, too. Casino restaurants closed and bus lines stopped sending motor coaches to Atlantic City because few people wanted to go if they couldn't gamble.
The compromise, announced Thursday by Corzine, increases New Jersey's sales tax from 6 percent to 7 percent. Half the $1.1 billion that it will raise will ease property taxes, which are among the nation's highest. Corzine had wanted all the money to go toward helping close a $4.5 billion budget deficit.
To ensure the sales tax money doesn't get spent elsewhere, voters would be asked in November to constitutionally dedicate half the sales tax increase revenue to property tax relief for the next 10 years.
The governor cautioned that the budget accord was not cause for celebration, because too many residents' lives were disrupted and the state's fiscal problems were not yet fully resolved.
"We have much more to do in the coming months and years to fix our state's public finances," he said.
The government shutdown, which began Saturday, forced the temporary layoffs of about 45,000 state workers. It took all but essential state employees off the job because the money to pay them had not been authorized by the Legislature.
Casino operators and their customers criticized the state for ordering the closings, saying the $1.3 million in daily tax revenue they add to state coffers made them the wrong targets for cost-cutting in a budget crunch.
"We're just happy it's resolved, and let's move on," said Alyce Parker, a spokeswoman for Harrah's Entertainment, which operates four casinos.
Daniel Heneghan, public information officer for the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, said once Corzine's office lifts the emergency shutdown order, the commission chair will sign an order to open the casinos.
"We have inspectors on call, ready to respond whenever that happens," he said. "As soon as that happens, we will open up casinos as soon as possible."
Democrats who control the Assembly had opposed the sales tax increase, which would cost the average New Jersey family an estimated $275 per year, saying it was regressive and unnecessary.
The inability of the Democratic governor and members of his own party to reach an agreement until so long after the July 1 budget deadline drew ridicule from Republican lawmakers.
"This process has been a disaster and an embarrassment for the people of the state of New Jersey," said Assemblyman Bill Baroni, R-Mercer.
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