Free Republic

Harvey. Illinois is in the midst of a financial crisis that represents the tip of the iceberg ... The city of 25,000 in the far northwest suburbs of Chicago is suffering from high unemployment (22%). An astonishing 32% of the population lives below the poverty level. This is a deadly mixture that has caused catastrophic shortfalls in revenue, leading to a crisis in funding pensions for the city's retired workers. Since state law prohibits municipal bankruptcy, Harvey has been forced into a situation Illinois has never seen. In February, the state began to garnish Harvey's revenue to fund its pension...

Contemplations on the new Cook County Soda Tax... Cook County, Illinois - the home of America’s fourth largest city - Chicago, is, like many metro areas, broke. So, as many jurisdictions do when broke, they imagine a need to raise tax rates. The one they have chosen for July 1, 2017 is a soda tax, in addition to any applicable sales tax, which in Illinois can be as high as ten percent ad valorem already. This new “soda tax” is not just on soda, but on any beverage that is sweetened with either sugar or artificial sweetener (so it applies...

<p>“Weekday morning from six to ten on WRKO. Important hours for. 3617666868. Here on AM 680. WRKO. And now I’m 93 point seven HDQ. My friends as I’ve been talking about for the last couple of days. Lynn. Has now become in many ways ground zero. For the immigration crisis engulfing this country. And now. Berlin’s mayor. Judy Kennedy. Has now come out and sad that — is basically now at the breaking point.</p>

The city of Compton is reportedly facing bankruptcy following an announcement at a City Council meeting Tuesday night. During the four-hour meeting, two senior financial officials told council members they have to decide by September 1 whether or not to file for bankruptcy. The municipality has accumulated a $43 million deficit with no reserve. Funding for the city is expected to run out by the beginning of September. The Council added to Compton’s accumulated deficit on July 10 when it adopted a $161 million budget with a $9 million projected deficit. “Either you’re gonna pay these bonds . . ....

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The San Bernardino City Council decided to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection Tuesday, making it the second largest city in the nation to ever file for bankruptcy. San Bernardino faces a $46 million budget shortfall and may not be able to pay all its employees over the next three months. Meanwhile, residents don't know what to expect. Two weeks ago Stockton, in Northern California, became the largest city in the country to ever file for bankruptcy. And the tiny town of Mammoth Lakes voted for bankruptcy last week. The city of Los Angeles has serious...

The tiny, cash-strapped town of Central Falls, Rhode Island, is expected to know Monday whether it is officially bankrupt. Robert Flanders, the town's state appointed receiver, will work through the weekend to decide whether he will file for bankruptcy on behalf of Central Falls... ... Central Falls faces a $4.9 million budget shortfall. The real financial problem, however, is the city's $80 million public pension debt and it's public safety worker pension fund is on track to run out by October. A Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy filing would give Central Falls the opportunity to change it's union agreements. But it...

The city of Hamtramck, desperate for cash, has asked the state for permission to take an unprecedented step: filing for bankruptcy. City Manager Bill Cooper said the city of roughly 20,000 people is staring at a $3 million deficit, fueled by a dispute with Detroit. Unless Hamtramck files for bankruptcy, it won't be able to pay its nearly 100 employees or 153 retirees, he said.

Harrisburg, PA, whose bankruptcy is now about a year overdue, has just hired bankruptcy counsel: New York law firm Cravath, Swaine and Moore. The financial advisor has not been decided yet although the pitches there must be fast and furious, and probably involved every single bankruptcy advisory firm which recently has had exactly zero work courtesy of Ben Bernanke providing convertible DIPs at negative rates. Cravath took a tricky strategy to beat out other law firms: it would advise the city pro bono on its imminent Chapter 9. But don't think of it as money lost: think of it as...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- A bill that clamps down on municipal bankruptcy filings is headed for Gov. Schwarzenegger's desk, which is bad news for Los Angeles and other cash-strapped California cities. It the governor signs Assembly Bill 155, it would place a hurdle in the path of filing for Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy. The bill stipulates that a city may only file for bankruptcy with the approval of the California Debt Investment Advisory Commission, which provides information on debt to public agencies.

Just days after becoming controller of financially strapped Harrisburg, Pa., in January, Daniel Miller began uttering an obscure term that baffled most people who had never heard it and chilled those who had: Chapter 9. The seldom-used part of U.S. bankruptcy law gives municipalities protection from creditors while developing a plan to pay off debts. Created in the wake of the Great Depression, Chapter 9 is widely considered a last resort and filings under it are more taboo than other parts of bankruptcy code because of the resulting uncertainty for everyone from municipal employees to bondholders. The economic slump, however,...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — In 2002, a banker named Charles E. LeCroy arrived here with a novel pitch to ease taxpayers’ burden. Some Wall Street wizardry, he said, could lighten their load. ... Six years on, officials here are still struggling to untangle the financial web that Mr. LeCroy and his fellow bankers spun. Jefferson County is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy after a series of exotic bond deals that the bankers concocted went wrong ... During the last few years, Jefferson County entered into a series of complex transactions, called swaps, worth a staggering $5.4 billion. The accusations and...