NORTHFIELD – Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson March 3 provided the public and the Board of County Commissioners with a summary of the county’s fiscal plans and introduced the 2026 budget with a 2-cent decrease in the general tax rate. The $283.4 million budget includes $198.5 million to be raised through taxation. Health and library taxes will remain flat.
The county will apply half of its surplus, $22.5 million, to reduce the amount to be raised by taxing Atlantic County property owners.
“Atlantic County remains financially secure and maintains its top-tier credit rating with perfect audits for 26 years,” he said.
Despite the county’s success in ensuring the offshore wind projects were “dead in the water,” Levinson said Atlantic City is facing competition from casinos soon to open in New York and possibly North Jersey.
He said the Atlantic City casino PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) program sunsets in 10 months, and after eight years of legal battles that cost $1 million in legal fees, the county has received $59 million in back taxes owed to the county.
“The county commissioners stood strong against pressure from some of our own elected officials who encouraged this board to drop the lawsuit and move on,” he said. “Well, we didn’t.”
He said he does not support the new PILOT program that has been proposed in perpetuity because it would be unfair to Atlantic County taxpayers who are the only ones who absorb the loss of tax revenue.
He said there should be a regulated property tax assessment system that properly assesses casinos and includes all 21 counties in the state, thus eliminating the need for a PILOT.
“There should be equity. There should be justice and there wasn’t. For the 10 years of that PILOT, all municipalities paid more than their fair share and the casinos paid less,” he said.
He said he is constantly told that without the PILOT two casinos would fail and thousands of workers would lose employment.
“I don’t know if that is accurate…but if they have any validity, I have a solution,” he said. “The casinos benefit all state taxpayers, yet only those living in Atlantic County are required to support them with their tax dollars. Why should we be the only ones to take the hit? Let’s require taxpayers in all 21 counties to contribute.”
Additionally, implementing a countywide property assessment system could save municipalities tens of thousands of dollars and ensure all taxpayers are paying their fair share of taxes, he said.
Atlantic County is facing some challenging decisions in the coming months and years, he said. After push back from residents, Camden County decided to nix the idea of building a regional jail in Ancora, and the county will have to go it alone and possibly build a new jail next to the Atlantic County Justice Facility in Mays Landing. After the project is built, it will raze the old jail. The board’s jail committee will help to develop the plan, he said.
The county intends to auction off the Meadowview Nursing Home, which has been losing money over the last several years. It has 100 empty beds and is finding it difficult to attract employees. Meadowview is one of only three county-owned nursing homes left in the state.
“We kept it as long as we possibly could and last year, we lost millions of dollars and can no longer carry it,” he said.
He noted the minimum bid amount for the facility located in Northfield is $23.5 million, less than market value to make it attractive for a buyer to maintain existing staff and patients.
“That’s the very least we can do for these employees, who are angels of mercy,” he said.
The county is also pursuing establishing a centralized fire and EMS dispatch system, which would include upgraded technology, “but the towns must have the will to do so,” he said, noting that local police departments have been resistant to the idea.
“We are the only county without some form of centralized dispatch,” he said, pointing to the “archaic” home rule concept that causes municipal leaders to maintain control over their “little fiefdoms.”
He touted the success of the Central Municipal Court, which has saved the nine municipalities that joined as much as 44% on the cost of running their own courts.
Facing double-digit increases as high as 36% in the cost of the State Health Benefits Program for employees of the county’s 22 bargaining units, the county established a new high-deductible health insurance plan that attracted 500 of the county’s 1,700 employees.
“It’s a heavy lift. If successful, we hope more employees opt in,” he said.
Levinson also said construction of a second building at the National Aerospace Research and Technology Park (NARTP) in Egg Harbor Township is nearing completion “on time and on budget.”
The $20 million investment into aviation research has positioned Atlantic County to be on the “cutting edge” of aviation advancements, he said.
He said last month, the county was awarded $1 million in federal funding to work with several Atlantic County economic development organizations and Embry Riddle University, the top aviation university in the country, to establish an aviation maintenance training academy at Atlantic City International Airport.
“The aviation and aerospace industry is our future,” he said, thanking the board for their “unwavering support.”
Levinson said the county would consider additional improvements to the Atlantic County Institute of Technology to include aviation studies.
The technical school, which teaches to the economic needs of the community, turns away 500 students each year and may need to be expanded again.
“We just built an addition, and we already have kids that we cannot accommodate,” he said.
The county will increase salary and wages, pensions and benefits as required by bargaining unit contracts and the county will continue exploring AI to improve efficiency and enhance customer service, he said.
“We’re not rolling in cash; we’re efficient and put the taxpayers first,” he said.
“2026 Will be another busy year. We have a lot on our plate, but I am confident we have the resolve to do the hard work and do what is best. As long as we put the residents’ interests in the forefront, we cannot go wrong.”
Copyright Fideri News Network 2026
