At a time when local government needs it most, Mirage Resorts Inc., owned now by MGM Resorts International, is planning to give Atlantic City more than $6 million over its aborted plan to invest more than $1 billion in the city's Marina District, the Press of Atlantic City reported last week.
Under the direction of gaming mogul Steve Wynn, Mirage signed a deal with Atlantic City in 1995, promising to clean up a city landfill and build a massive casino resort in its place. Although the company did clean up the landfill — which is now the site of the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa — it eventually pulled out of the hotel project.
When it did, Wynn's company benefited from special New Jersey legislation that allowed it to recoup $20 million in remediation costs from the state, of which $8 million was earmarked to go back to the city. Although the city received $1.9 million of its remediation money in 1998, payments from Mirage then ceased for more than a decade.
Now, according to the Press of Atlantic City, the state is prepared to complete its reimbursement of Mirage, and MGM in return is prepared to complete its reimbursement of Atlantic City — which coincidentally faces a $14 million budget gap this year due to the economic downturn.
"We knew the money would come," state Sen. Jim Whelan, who was the city's mayor when the deal was struck, told the Press. "We didn't know what the city's needs would be."
According to William "Speedy" March, Atlantic City's city council president, city officials hope to use the windfall to balance this year's budget and plan for next year's potential financial troubles.