TRENTON, N.J.-
New Jersey lawmakers said Thursday they were close to a budget deal that could end the nearly weeklong government shutdown that has shuttered casinos and thrown more than 80,000 people out of work.
With no budget in effect, the state can't pay its employees, including state gambling inspectors; without the gambling inspectors, Atlantic City's 12 casinos had to shut their doors Wednesday, putting 36,000 casino employees out of work.
However, the only beach in the state closed by the government shutdown was the Island Beach State Park in Ocean County, according to a recorded announcement at the state office that handles New Jersey tourism.
Gov. Jon S. Corzine spent an hour meeting with top legislative leaders after giving a speech in which he urged lawmakers to compromise. He ordered the government shutdown after they failed to pass a state budget by the July 1 deadline.
"I think it's close," said Senate Majority Leader Bernard F. Kenny. "Hopefully we'll get a budget passed this weekend."
Hundreds of casino workers and state employees rallied outside New Jersey's capitol Thursday.
"The money is just dwindling down," said Cheryl Fogu, 50, of Brick, who works for the state attorney general's office. "They just don't realize what they're doing to us."
Fogu said she has put off paying her water bill, but the mortgage can't wait.
"We live paycheck to paycheck," she said.
Corzine, a Democrat, had been pushing a plan to balance the budget–and close a $4.5 million hole–by raise the state sales tax from 6 percent to 7 percent. Several Senate Democrats and most Assembly Democrats had opposed him, saying the tax would be regressive and unnecessary.
Assembly Democrats on Wednesday laid out their own $30.7 billion budget plan, which would rely on taxing other services, extending casino taxes and creating a new corporate income tax.
Corzine offered a compromise in which half the revenue from his sales tax increase would go to lowering property taxes, among the nation's highest.
Kenny said Thursday afternoon that a potential deal started to come together after Assembly Democrats realized there wasn't enough support for their alternative plan.
In his speech Thursday morning, Corzine told legislators that the situation caused by the budget stalemate was "deplorable."
"The people of the state of New Jersey have every right to be angry," he said. "Let's put New Jerseyans back to work and let them go on with their everyday lives."
Casinos, state parks, and race tracks were ordered to closed down Thursday. Blackjack dealers were sent home mid-shift, gamblers cashed in their chips before being ushered to the exits, and janitors locked the doors behind them.
The 12 Atlantic City casinos stand to lose more than $16 million a day, and the state is losing an estimated $1.3 million a day in taxes they gambling halls normally generate.
Only 36,000 state workers–those in vital roles such as child welfare, state police and mental hospitals–remained on the job under the government shutdown, and they were working without pay.
"No one wants to see people lose their jobs. We hope this gets resolved as quickly as possible," said Linda Kassekert, chairwoman of the state Casino Control Commission.
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Associated Press writers John Curran in Atlantic City and Beth DeFalco and Linda A. Johnson in Trenton contributed to this report.
