From The Press of Atlantic City — City leaders are working on a compromise after Mayor Joseph Kuehner’s plan to end tax breaks for businesses encountered opposition he didn’t expect.

Kuehner had wanted to boost the cash-strapped city’s property-tax income, believing that most incoming businesses were locating in Egg Harbor City for reasons other than the chance to pay a growing fraction of their taxes for the first five years here.

“We were unaware that they were aware of the program,” Kuehner said Wednesday.

But several business owners told the administration that wasn’t the case, that the tax break had helped persuade them to move to the city. A final vote on the program’s eradication was postponed Aug. 14 – when the mayor had expected it to pass comfortably – and the bill is being reworked in a City Council committee, Kuehner said. It does not appear on tonight’s council meeting agenda.

The mayor would support a shorter, steeper tax-abatement period of two to three years, he said.

“We’re trying to find the the balance,” Kuehner said. “Five years is a pretty long time. I think some people could still get relief in two to three years. … We don’t want to do anything hasty, either.”

Tonight’s meeting is scheduled to feature a public hearing on the city’s application for a $400,000 state grant that would help fund improvements to the 300 block of Philadelphia Avenue. Building new sidewalks and street lights and installing underground utilities cost about
$1 million each for the 100 and 200 blocks, Kuehner estimated.

The ultimate goal is to convert all seven blocks of Philadelphia Avenue between the White Horse Pike and Duerer Street into a commercial corridor, Kuehner said. The northern blocks are currently more residential, and several storefronts at the south end are vacant.