Atlantic City won’t have to immediately repay New Jersey $62 million it borrowed after it broke the state’s conditions for the loan, but it won’t get the remainder that had been pledged, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The distressed gaming hub failed to approve actions needed to dissolve its water authority, as required by the state as collateral for the $73 million loan package that helped pull it from the brink of bankruptcy. New Jersey could have demanded full payment of the amount already advanced after notifying the city of the breach on Tuesday, but chose not to, said Tammori Petty, a spokeswoman for the Department of Community Affairs, which oversees the seaside resort. The loss of the remainder of the loan and the specter of even less cash assistance make it more difficult for Atlantic City officials to stabilize municipal finances. The city, which has been headed toward insolvency since a third of its casinos closed in 2014, has until Nov. 3 to develop a five-year fiscal blueprint and avoid a state takeover.
