Atlantic City Administrator John Lund, Wednesday, reported to the City Council, that he has been working a lot on the Fiscal Year 2019 Budget, and that “Things are proving to be not as much fun as it’s been in the past. By that he means “Our Capital Expenditures have been going up. We have new Operational Spending. A loss in the General Fund….Our Debt limit Capacity will be just below [the] limit set in the City’s Financial Policy. And, the actual Debt Levy is very high, which makes for a lower score on the Standard and Poors when it comes to bond rating.

Lund said he’s only in the preliminary stages of putting together the Budget, and hopefully things will improve. But he warned City leaders need to be aware the amount of money the City takes in from the Local Option Sales Tax, is based on what the State takes in. And those numbers he said, are looking a lot worse. He said “I thing we’re starting to reach the limit of what we can do with our current revenue and fee structures. New “needs” or “wants” in the future that are outside the budgeting process, will involve in increasing fees, finding new fees, or we’re gonna  be running down the reserve balances.

Lund said also “We can’t just raise property taxes to solve the problem.” The bottom line, he said, is “We should be cautious in spending, here.”