The Grand Jury of San Diego issued a report of this title yesterday.  Also, at yesterday’s GFOA (Government Finance Officers Association) business meeting, the group voted  that the Government Accounting Standards Board should stay away from the topic of sustainability.  The only conclusion one can draw from the Grand Jury report is: the city of [...]

California, Chapter 9, fiscal emergency, municipal bankruptcy, municipal bond default, state and local politics

See this post on Reuters for discussion about Antioch, latest city in California to talk bankruptcy.  There is a bill, sponsored by state senator Mendoza, AB155, that would require cities to go through the state (via the California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission, CDIAC).  The bill was referred last week by the Senate appropriations committee [...]

California, fiscal emergency, municipal bankruptcy, municipal bonds

See today’s op ed by Dan Miller, Harrisburg’s controller.

Chapter 9, fiscal emergency, municipal bankruptcy

The Illinois Comptroller’s April report  is scary reading.  The state is $4.5 billion in arrears on payments to vendors and others (like school districts and service providers) with no end in sight.  The Comptroller expects 2011 to be worse.  The following chart from the report looks to me like a deteriorating structural imbalance moving towards a delicate liquidity [...]

fiscal emergency, fiscal stress, state and local politics, states

Add Xenia Rural Water District’s to the short but growing list of over-leveraged municipal borrowers.  With $143 million in debt and about 9,000 customers, the unfolding socio-gram includes bondholders, bond insurers CIFG and Assured Guaranty, the US Department of Agriculture, Bank of America, and last, but not least, the ratepayers.  A $5.2 million note to [...]

bond insurance, fiscal emergency, municipal bond default, non-rated bonds, special district

Tight financial margins are not kind to political squabbles.  In the last few weeks the city of Los Angeles has been engaged in a squabble with the city council and its utility, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP).  The city’s mayor wants the utility to implement green power, the utility asked for [...]

California, fiscal emergency, municipal bankruptcy, state and local politics

The financial reform proposals, designed to eliminate systemic risk, could actually trigger another meltdown upon the bill’s passage.  This is due to the ratings notching approach that has given rating credit to government support since the meltdown.  A change in the expectation of support – both emergency and on-going would result in ratings downgrades for [...]

fiscal emergency, fiscal stress, municipal bonds, ratings

Westfall Township, Pennsylvania filed a Chapter 9 bankruptcy petition in April, 2009 and the court confirmed a reorganization plan in March, 2010.  According to the law firm that handled the case:
Westfall Township, located in Pike County, PA, was saddled with a $20 million debt due to a prior government’s mistreatment of a developer.  Without the [...]

fiscal emergency, municipal bankruptcy, state and local politics

I am adding a link to this article that updates Toledo’s fiscal situation.  (See prior post.)  The city is wrestling with a budget gap and trying to negotiate with unions over compensation.  Ohio is a state that has a fiscal emergency program and municipalities may not file for bankruptcy without going through the state.  The state’s [...]

fiscal emergency, fiscal stress, municipal bankruptcy, Ohio, Toledo

Here’s a good, local clip about the Harrisburg bond/incinerator problem:

fiscal emergency