Heyyyyy, are you talkin' about me big boy???
Posted on 07/02/2006 3:21:55 PM PDT by wagglebee
Atlantic City's casinos were ordered to close Wednesday, the latest casualty of a state government shutdown that entered its second day Sunday after the Legislature failed to adopt a budget by its July 1 deadline.
The head of the Casino Control Commission ordered gaming in Atlantic City to cease at 8 a.m. Wednesday — the day after the July Fourth holiday — if New Jersey fails to enact a budget by then.
Atlantic City's 12 casinos, which require state monitoring, have waged a court battle to remain open, and an appeals court was weighing the matter Sunday. There was no word on when a ruling would be made, courts spokeswoman Winnie Comfort said.
Gov. Jon S. Corzine said Sunday there was "no immediate prospect of a budget." State parks, beaches and historic sites also were expected to shut down Wednesday.
If the casinos shut down, the state would lose an estimated $2 million in tax revenue each day they stayed closed. Republican Assemblyman Francis Blee, whose district includes the casinos, said it was important for them to remain open.
"We will have tens of thousands of individuals, real people, that are going to be hurt by this," he said. "There will be bread-winners who are not bringing home a paycheck."
Corzine shut down nonessential government services Saturday after the Legislature failed to adopt a budget by its July 1 deadline, leaving the state without the means to spend money. Budget talks became heated this year as Corzine, a Democrat, proposed increasing the state sales tax from 6 percent to 7 percent to help overcome a $4.5 billion budget deficit.
Most Democrats in the Assembly and several Senate Democrats oppose the sales tax increase, fearing voter backlash and reserving any tax increase for property tax reform. Assembly Democrats proposed a series of alternatives, some of which Corzine accepted, but both sides remained $1 billion apart as the budget deadline passed.
About 45,000 state employees were furloughed Saturday. Corzine's order allows him to keep 36,000 state employees working without pay. Services such as state police, prisons, mental hospitals and child welfare were to keep operating.
The lottery and road construction projects were among the first to close. A state appellate panel on Sunday ordered horse tracks closed at the end of business Tuesday. It was not immediately known Sunday whether the horse racing industry would file further appeals to keep harness and thoroughbred tracks open past July 4.
Corzine was expected to meet in private Sunday with top Assembly and Senate leaders. Assembly Budget Committee members were called to the Statehouse and were discussing alternatives to a sales tax increase, panel chairman Lou Greenwald said.
The Senate is scheduled to meet on Monday, and Senate President Richard J. Codey has told senators to be ready to stay in session until a budget is adopted.
"Let's get on with getting this problem solved," Corzine said while touring a state police dispatch center in Hamilton on Sunday, emphasizing he couldn't "sign a bill that doesn't exist."
Republicans, the minority party in both the Assembly and Senate, have expressed frustration.
"I'm appalled that this reached this stage," said Senate Minority Leader Leonard Lance, R-Hunterdon. "It is very unfortunate that the Democratic governor and Democratic majorities in the Legislature could not achieve a budget in place by June 30, and now all the people of New Jersey suffer as a result."
Some lottery sellers — and many customers — were surprised to learn that the games were being put on hold until the budget impasse is resolved.
"People will be angry, but we can't do anything about it," said Umesh Patel, 40, owner of Deli Delight in Ewing. "I don't know how long it's going to be, so let's just see what happens next."
Why would he NOT try this? The media will spin his side. They did when the GOP and Clinton were at loggerheads.
The only possible drawback is that people start wondering wtf government was doing with this nonessential stuff in the first place.
Corzine's showdown is with other 'Rats not the GOP, it will be hard to spin that.
"As I was a taxpayer in Pennsylvania for 35 years, I am well aware of the horrendous school taxes. I never remember them giving anything back though - just more increases. The school tax never, in that time, remained the same or decreased, despite adding a state income tax, local income taxes for the schools, and legalizing gambling through the lottery and horse racing."
I moved here to Pennsylvania a couple of years ago, and the first thing they did is double my taxes. Not everyone, mind you - just anyone who had newly moved into the area was "reassessed". When I contested this as an unfair money grab, they literally said: "we can do whatever we want to do." -- now I'm paying almost as much in taxes as I paid in New Jersey, in a house that's worth about 1/4 of what my house was worth there.
Maybe the answer IS to move out of the northeast altogether.
The crazy part about the casinos, lottery and racetracks is that they actually bring far more money into the state than it costs to run them.
Can you imagine having to tell some of those chain-smoking blue-haired bitties to step away from the slot machines?
That won't be pretty.
Is it just me or are the punchlines in FReeperland quite the riot today? I don't read that much and this is already three good zingers today.
Heyyyyy, are you talkin' about me big boy???
I remember years back the state took about 12.5 cents of every dollar bet. Even so, that is far less than the state takes on each lottery dollar bet.
wherever you go - its coming there. the teachers unions operate the same way in every state. I see posts from freepers in texas complaining about the public education complex.
None of it matters. The New Jersey voter has a 2 day memory span. Who else could institute a no smoking law in all bars and restaurants and leave casino workers choking
because the criminals running the gambling joints run the legislature? How fair is it for every bar to kick out smokers while casino bars welcome them. The inmates have the keys to the asylum in NJ. They put up with a legislature like that? They are nuts.
By what criteria? The state assembly and senate are held by a democrat majority. Arnold is a RINO. A vast improvement over Greyout Davis, but still a lefty. The state went for Gore and Clinton in the last Presidential elections.
"Corzine's showdown is with other 'Rats not the GOP, it will be hard to spin that."
True as that is, the MSM will still try their hardest to pin in on the GOP for not 'helping' by breaking the deadlock.
Heck both the executive and legislative branch wants to raise taxes. It is just a matter of will it be 6 or 7 % raise.
Corzine is truly a moron, but so are the people that elected him.
Idaho has a similar problem. The teacher's union has the legislators by the nads. Education get 55% of the budget and they keep screaming for more. I pay $3,400 in annual property taxes on my owner occupied residence. It is assessed at $185,000 for tax purposes. My other house in Pocatello is not occupied. It has a assessed value of $86,000 for tax purposes. I don't get the homeowner's exemption on that one. I haven't identified exactly what the tax bite is, but it is probably close to $2,000 annually.
Idaho gets about $13,000 per year from me in state income tax. Sales tax is 5% on everything.
All my "kids" are 19+. They don't attend any public schools, yet I have the perpetual "pleasure" of paying for crappy public schools.
I am STUPID!
Speaking of Greyout Davis, it is disruptions like this that *do* get the average voter's attention. When you start messing with their livelihoods, they'll sit up and take notice. Even if 90% of the lemmings will still vote Dem, maybe 10% will decide they are ticked off enough to vote for another party.
indeed, that is alot for Idaho - what I mean to say is, people would tend to think of idaho as a "low tax" state.
Went to a conference there a few years ago. Hated it. The casinos owned just about everything -- talk about blight.
See what happens when you run the Miss America pageant out of the state. It goes to he!!.
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