Good news
Last updated: Friday, December 12, 2014, 1:08 AM Posted: Thursday, December 11, 2014, 3:09 PM
ATLANTIC CITY - A city tax lien sale brought faltering Atlantic City some pre-Christmas cheer Thursday - a $22 million tax bill from bankrupt Trump Plaza and Taj Mahal will be paid - but also some coal: Nobody bid on a $32.5 million unpaid tax bill from Revel.
'I'm concerned,' said the city's revenue director, Michael Stinson, after the four-hour sale, with a total of nearly $59 million in owed taxes on 1,000 properties, yielded at most half of that.
Stinson said the tax sale plus an imminent $40 million note sale should be enough to get the city over the immediate 2014 budgetary crisis.
'There are no issues about continuing operations,' he said.
Stinson said the city was also counting on a series of bills working through the Legislature aimed at stabilizing Atlantic City's tax structure and redirecting casino development taxes to the city.
He said the city had hoped someone would pick up Revel's unpaid $32.5 million lien, but Tax Collector Theresa Mulvenna's calling of 'Block 62, Lot 1' and 'Block 62, Lot 2,' and the $31 million and $1.5 million amounts owed, brought only snickers from the dozen or so people in the room, most bidding on much smaller tax liens.
Mulvenna said the city's final revenue tally from the sale of liens was still being calculated. 'At this time we are waiting for payments to clear,' she said.
The annual sale allows bidders - mostly investors, speculators, and hedge funds - to purchase tax liens on delinquent properties in the city.
The successful bidder pays the tax bill and then will either be repaid by the property owner with interest or, after two years, can foreclose on the property.
arosenberg@phillynews.com
609-576-1973
@amysrosenberg
Inquirer staff writer Harold Brubaker contributed to this article.
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