Yahoo Finance reports:

Atlantic City’s City Council unanimously approved an ordinance to allow negotiations on financing for road improvements for a new casino.

Revel Entertainment Group wants the city to issue $56 million in bonds to provide money for the company to redesign and widen access roads to the project.

The company’s attorney said Revel would be responsible for paying interest on the bonds, whose term and interest rate have not yet been determined.

Another vote to decide terms is scheduled in two weeks.

City government will now assume the role of partner in the Revel casino project.  City Council is two weeks away from further blurring the line between government and private interests.  So-called public/private partnerships are an abuse of the function of government.  If Atlantic City issues bonds on behalf of Revel Entertainment, the city sets a dangerous precedent that future developers will point to in their quest to get taxpayers to underwrite their projects.

   The Atlantic City City Council bonding proposal is an improper function of city government.  Public assistance grows in Atlantic City, while private and corporate responsibility diminishes.  A unanimous and united City Council is intent on growing government and intruding in what should be the business of a private business.  Revel Entertainment ought to be responsible for obtaining capital from private sources, not the credit of Atlantic City taxpayers.