As expected, the emergency team, appointed two months ago with the aim of conducting a research and proposing resolutions about stabilizing the financial condition of Atlantic City, released its report mere hours ago.
As previously announced, managers of the emergency team were not expected to propose bankruptcy but they revealed that Atlantic City residents should anticipate serious financial issues in the foreseeable future.
It is a well-known fact that the casino closures in 2014 had a devastating effect on the economy. Thousands of people lost their jobs and the remaining casinos faced financial hurdles.
That is why the Atlantic City officials had to deal with these problems and the results from the aforementioned report were supposed to help them find a long-term solution. According to the report, Atlantic City should be prepared for more severe crisis.
As previously reported, the emergency team was believed to propose significant reductions in the budget. Along with that, the other recommendations included mediators to be appointed for discussing the issues related to the remaining casinos and the unions. The question about the money Atlantic City owes to Borgata remained unsolved, though.
As for the budget cuts, they were estimated at $10 million. And to make matters worse, more Atlantic City residents will be left unemployed.
The report put emphasis on the fact that the city needs to deal with the budget shortfall amounting more than $100 million. However, emergency team managers remained tight-lipped as to whether they have proposed a long-term solution for the financial issues.
Although the managers are believed to be bankruptcy experts, surprising or not, they did not proposed any bankruptcy actions to the city that left 8,000 people, employed in the casino industry, out of job.
Actually, the main concern of the managers was the above-mentioned deficit of $100 million and they said that the gap has to be filled as soon as possible.
Yet, they announced that the city can be spared from filing for bankruptcy and that was not something they were contemplating.
The plan containing the most appropriate resolutions for debt restructuring is due on June 30th. Meanwhile, the cost savings aspect as well as the negotiations with creditors have to be figured out.
The released report quickly managed to attract opponents who said that it does not propose anything innovative. On the contrary, managers were said to provide solutions that are already well-known.
In point of fact, opponents of the emergency team accused Atlantic City officials of holding presentations and meetings, while the casino industry is struggling and no imminent actions are taken.
