Posted on 05/29/2010 2:21:38 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Bankruptcy Talk Spreads Among Calif. Muni Officials
Friday, 28 May 2010 10:44 AM
Two years after Vallejo, Calif., filed for bankruptcy protection, officials in nearby Antioch are also tossing around the 'B' word.
Antioch's leaders earlier this month said bankruptcy could be an option for the cash-strapped city of roughly 100,000 on the eastern fringe of the San Francisco Bay area.
Antioch's fiscal woes are standard issue for local governments in California: weak revenue from retail sales and property taxes is forcing spending cuts, layoffs and furloughs.
But cost-cutting measures may not be enough to keep Antioch's books balanced, so its city council is openly discussing bankruptcy.
"We just want to alert people to the possibility," Antioch Mayor Pro Tem Mary Helen Rocha said.
Orange County Treasurer Chriss Street would not be surprised if more local governments across the Golden State sound a similar alarm.
Street expects more talk of municipal bankruptcy across California because local government finances are in such dire shape — a situation underscored on Wednesday when a top finance officer for Sacramento County projected a worse-than-expected shortfall for the county of $181 million, which could force more than 1,000 layoffs from the county's payroll.
"You don't have the easy out of increasing revenue and you have a lot more call on services because of the economy," Street said. "There's no such thing as entertaining bankruptcy; there's ending denial."
(Excerpt) Read more at moneynews.com ...
P!
Of course, the cash will continue to flow for services for illegals and SEIU benefits and pensions.
“... politically powerful public employee unions. ...
pressing the legislature to pass a bill that would require local governments to get the approval of a state board before filing for bankruptcy. Since the board could be stacked with union-friendly appointees, bankruptcy pleas could be rejected or delayed.”
>>Of course, the cash will continue to flow for services for illegals and SEIU benefits and pensions.<<
At first maybe. But this will still end very badly, even for them.
I don’t know how successful they were but the Gov’t worker unions in California were trying to jam a law through the legislature making municipal bankruptcy very difficult
“You don’t have the easy out of increasing revenue and you have a lot more call on services because of the economy,” Street said.
At least they understand that raising taxes can actually reduce tax revenue.
A number of them are pressing the legislature to pass a bill that would require local governments to get the approval of a state board before filing for bankruptcy. Since the board could be stacked with union-friendly appointees, bankruptcy pleas could be rejected or delayed.
Most o...f them will claim bankruptcy in order to stiff us bondholders..this will cause a chain reaction that will be difficult to stop.
Don’t worry. Walmart has lowered prices by 12 cents on their goods. All will be just great.
Municipal bankruptcy really isn’t such a bad idea.
Bankrupt the teachers union. The bastards have been trained to teach failure from the word go.
Coming soon to a neighborhood near you.
ARIZONA SB 1070! When bankruptcy is NOT the answer!
(1) Outlaw public unions
(2) Kick out the illegals/deny illegals benefits and employment
(3) Drill off-shore
(4) Hire outside firm to cut the size of state government
(5) Abolish state income and corporate taxes and switch to a universal 10% sales tax with no deductions or credits
(6) Privatize Cal-Medicaid and give vouchers to recipients
It will no doubt be widely used in CA - but the critical point is that it is only available to municipalities, sub-units of states, but not states themselves. The political choke hold of the prison guards unions and other state employees on Sacramento cannot be mitigated by bankruptcy. And a lot of th problem is at the state level.
So, what does it mean if a municipality goes bankrupt?...I have no idea. Please explain if you could, since you seem to understand all of this.
Finally....the unions have the state by the throat. Goodness knows the voters don’t care. Perhaps a bankruptcy judge can fix it. (shudder)
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