A three-judge panel released a decision saying Atlantic County Superior Court judges were wrong to accept certified legal affidavits rather than sworn testimony in trials in which they found the state had to pay millions more to the county, Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson said in a Monday evening phone interview.

He said the panel vacated the earlier decisions in favor of the county. Levinson called the decision “nonsense.”

“We are going to continue to fight this thing,” Levinson said. “We are the second or third poorest county in the state. Our taxpayers can’t afford this.”

The court has not yet published its decision.

Atlantic County and the nonprofit Liberty and Prosperity each sued and won their cases in Superior Court in 2022.

The county argued that removing internet gaming and online sports betting from calculations of how much casinos would pay cost county taxpayers $5 million a year, and violated a 2018 consent agreement to settle an earlier lawsuit; while Liberty and Prosperity argued it violated the state Constitution.

The state then appealed both cases to the appellate court.

“Why is it only the Atlantic County taxpayer who takes it on the chin by not getting taxes they’re supposed to get?” Levinson said. “We have to subsidize the casino industry because of COVID? Mom-and-pop stores got beaten up by COVID, so did restaurants. But only casinos got a PILOT where county taxpayers have to pay for it? It’s not fair.”

Levinson said the county is owed more than $14 million.

“That money should be going for social programs,” he said.

Seth Grossman, founder of Liberty and Prosperity, said the appellate panel also decided in the state’s favor in his case, and he does not plan to appeal further.

“I’m disappointed, but not at all surprised,” Grossman said in a Monday evening email. “The New Jersey Supreme Court has systematically refused to apply and enforce the parts of our State Constitution designed to protect taxpayers since the 1960s.”

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.