Atlantic City Budget Includes Sixth Straight Property Tax Decrease

ATLANTIC CITY — Property owners in Atlantic City will see a tax break for the sixth consecutive year under the proposed 2025 municipal budget, city officials announced on Wednesday, April 16, 2025.

Mayor Marty Small Sr. revealed during a news conference at City Hall that the $258.1 million budget — not including grant funding — includes a 3.4-cent decrease in the property tax rate. The reduction continues a trend of annual tax relief since Small took office.

“The taxpayers of the Great City of Atlantic City have been my number one priority from the moment I took office,” said Small. “We are once again able to deliver in a big way. Nothing shows the taxpayers how much we care about them more than by giving money back each year.”

Business Administrator Anthony Swan credited the tax relief to collaboration between city departments and the administration’s fiscal strategy.

“Mayor Small sets the direction based on what is best for the taxpayers, and we go out and make sure it happens,” Swan said. “People need to recognize all the hard work he puts into this process.”

Swan said that the proposed spending plan submitted by Department heads was initially $25 million over budget. 

“We will be judged by what we do for the residents of Atlantic City,” Swan said. “The 2025 budget didn’t happen by mistake. We didn’t stumble into it. You plan for it. We control the budget. We do not let the budget control us,” Swan said.

Swan took issue with critics who say the administration isn't getting much done.

“There is a lot of rhetoric,” Swan said. “I shut that down. We have paved roads. We have fixed things that you have asked us to fix. We are working on every issue.”

Once Swan made cuts, other members of the budget team were tasked with cutting the budget further. The budget fully funds capital projects and major city services without relying on one-time revenue sources or temporary financial measures, according to Chief Financial Officer Toro Aboderin.

“There are no gimmicks,” Aboderin said. “Everything Mayor Small fights for in this budget is to benefit the people of Atlantic City and ensure they’re not burdened with additional taxes.”

Aboderin said the city has a 98.1 percent tax collection rate, which helps provide vital services even though budget cuts were made.

“We have not shirked any of our responsibilities,” Aboderin said. “We are not going into debt. We have a lot of grants.”

The mayor said the city would be in even better shape if the administration had access to casino-related taxes.

“Our total ratable base does not  include the casinos,” Small said. Atlantic County is part of the PILOT - payment-in-lieu-of taxes - program. Under the PILOT program, Atlantic City does receive funding, but perhaps not as much as it would if casinos were subject to traditional taxes. Instead, casinos make contributions based on collective gross gaming revenue (GGR) earned in the previous year.

According to published reports, the PILOT concept was implemented in response to several casinos closing between 2014 and 2016, which prompted remaining gaming houses to dispute their tax burdens.

County officials opposed the funding formula, asserting that the tax break casinos gained caused the other municipalities to make up the difference. Atlantic County filed suit against the state in 2021 in response to modifications to the plan that county officials still believed were unfair. State and county officials reached a settlement agreement on April 2, 2025, that allows all parties to move forward with a spirit of cooperation, according to longtime Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson who worked with New Jersey Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Jacquelyn Suárez to reach the agreement.

Small praised his chief of staff, Ernest D. Coursey for facilitating the meeting that led to the settlement agreement, which brought $15 million into county coffers and set the parties on the path forward. PILOT legislation was slated to expire at the end of 2026.

“Relationships matter,” Small said. “It was Ernest Coursey, Dennis Levinson and Jacqueline Suarez.”

The city’s budget team includes Small, Swan, Aboderin, Budget Officer Tom Monoghan, City Auditor Leon Costello, State Monitor Wes Swain, and Suárez. The 2025 budget was presented to state officials in Trenton on April 10 and will be introduced to City Council.

Officials also noted that the city plans to pay off all of its 2025 debt service. The administration is continuing efforts to strengthen Atlantic City’s financial position, including through major development projects such as the proposed revitalization of Bader Field.

City leaders are hopeful that continued fiscal responsibility will lead to another credit rating upgrade from Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s, potentially restoring the city to investment-grade status.

To See the Budget news conference in its entirety click the link: https://www.facebook.com/AtlanticCityGov/videos/2094324384348034

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