Shitty municipality default watch

Central Falls, R.I., struggles to step back from financial abyss

http://www.boston.com/news/local/rh..._struggles_to_step_back_from_financial_abyss/

CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. - At the community center, the subsidized lunch for seniors is no longer being served. The pool has been drained. Health screenings have been cancelled. The locks to the building were changed last week, and not even the acting director is allowed inside.

The public library has gone dark too, a sign on the door at the top of the stone steps telling patrons to return books elsewhere - indefinitely.

Central Falls, one of New England’s most distressed cities, is on the cusp of filing for bankruptcy protection - a relatively rare step for municipalities even in tough financial times. Since 1980, only about 46 cities or towns in the United States have sought such protection, according to James Spiotto, an attorney in Chicago who is an expert in municipal bankruptcies.

Last year, the state took over Central Falls - a city of 19,000 residents with an unadjusted unemployment rate of 15 percent - stripping the mayor of his keys to City Hall and the rest of his authority. That move came after every teacher was fired at the underperforming high school, with most of them rehired later.

As state officials try to dig Central Fall out of its financial hole, negotiations are ongoing with labor unions and retirees and cuts are being sought from every corner of the budget. Without major concessions, bankruptcy is a very real possibility. Bankruptcy can take a toll on a city’s reputation and put stress on neighboring communities, which might have to step in to provide services.
 
Quote from bond_trad3r:

Central Falls, R.I., struggles to step back from financial abyss

http://www.boston.com/news/local/rh..._struggles_to_step_back_from_financial_abyss/

CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. - At the community center, the subsidized lunch for seniors is no longer being served. The pool has been drained. Health screenings have been cancelled. The locks to the building were changed last week, and not even the acting director is allowed inside.

The public library has gone dark too, a sign on the door at the top of the stone steps telling patrons to return books elsewhere - indefinitely.

Central Falls, one of New England’s most distressed cities, is on the cusp of filing for bankruptcy protection - a relatively rare step for municipalities even in tough financial times. Since 1980, only about 46 cities or towns in the United States have sought such protection, according to James Spiotto, an attorney in Chicago who is an expert in municipal bankruptcies.

Last year, the state took over Central Falls - a city of 19,000 residents with an unadjusted unemployment rate of 15 percent - stripping the mayor of his keys to City Hall and the rest of his authority. That move came after every teacher was fired at the underperforming high school, with most of them rehired later.

As state officials try to dig Central Fall out of its financial hole, negotiations are ongoing with labor unions and retirees and cuts are being sought from every corner of the budget. Without major concessions, bankruptcy is a very real possibility. Bankruptcy can take a toll on a city’s reputation and put stress on neighboring communities, which might have to step in to provide services.
More...

Look at the income and demographics: http://www.city-data.com/city/Central-Falls-Rhode-Island.html


"Central Falls on our top lists:

#55 on the list of "Top 100 cities with highest percentage of renters (pop. 5,000+)"
#59 on the list of "Top 100 cities with old houses but young residents (pop. 5,000+)"
#92 on the list of "Top 100 least-educated cities (pop. 5,000+)"


#27 on the list of "Top 101 counties with highest percentage of residents voting for Kerry (Democrat) in the 2004 Presidential Election"
#35 on the list of "Top 101 counties with the highest percentage of residents that smoked 100+ cigarettes in their lives"
#48 on the list of "Top 101 counties with the largest number of people moving out compared to moving in (pop. 50,000+)"
#51 on the list of "Top 101 counties with the highest Sulfur Oxides Annual air pollution readings in 2005 (µg/m3)"
#56 on the list of "Top 101 counties with the highest carbon monoxide air pollution readings in 2005 (ppm)"


Read more: http://www.city-data.com/city/Central-Falls-Rhode-Island.html#ixzz1RqQarjHl
"
 
Quote from Zr1Trader:

Ten Days and Counting: Why Minnesota's Government Could Shut Down July 1

Minnesota's political leaders failed to pass a budget by the end of the legislative session on May 23. Now, the clock is ticking down to a fiscal deadline of June 30, the end of the current budget biennium, when lawmakers are required to pass another two-year budget that will close a $5 billion deficit.


http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2079026,00.html#ixzz1Q99SvSbo
More...




Minnesota shutdown longest in recent history, no new talks

(Reuters) - The Minnesota state government shutdown, now the longest in recent memory in the United States, reached its eleventh day on Monday with no new talks planned between the political leaders.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/11/us-minnesota-shutdown-idUSTRE76A7LR20110711
 
Jefferson County Stares Down Bankruptcy as Citizens Grow Weary of Crisis

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-...kruptcy-as-citizens-grow-weary-of-crisis.html

Call it sewer fatigue.

As Jefferson County, Alabama, decides today whether to declare a record U.S. municipal bankruptcy, some citizens, politicians and businesses embraced the move. They said it would begin resolving a three-year-old, $3 billion-plus debt crisis and provide leverage over creditors that would offset the damage to the county’s finances and reputation.

“People are tired of reading about the sewer crisis and tired of hearing about rate increases,” Tony Petelos, mayor of Hoover, a city of 81,619, said in an interview in his office. “People, including me, want to see this come to an end, even if it’s bankruptcy. This has been a dark cloud hanging over this county and this city for more than three and a half years.”
 
A Small City’s Depleted Pension Fund Rattles Rhode Island

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/12/b...i-faces-bankruptcy-over-pension-promises.html

The small city of Central Falls, R.I., appears to be headed for a rare municipal bankruptcy filing, and state officials are rushing to keep its woes from overwhelming the struggling state.

Just over one square mile, Central Falls has a tightly packed population.

The impoverished city, operating under a receiver for a year, has promised $80 million worth of retirement benefits to 214 police officers and firefighters, far more than it can afford. Those workers’ pension fund will probably run out of money in October, giving Central Falls the distinction of becoming the second municipality in the United States to exhaust its pension fund, after Prichard, Ala.
 
Surprise, surprise: layoffs and cuts

http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/op...eb3-11e0-b979-001cc4c03286.html#ixzz1WGWXbYnf

Former Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz extended several city labor contracts in February.

Then he signed and extended contracts again in March — just before his April re-election bid.

The unions, which feared Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s looming changes to collective bargaining, were happy with the deals. And AFSCME endorsed Cieslewicz’s campaign.

But now the results are painfully clear for city residents.

City agencies just proposed laying off 38 cops and 27 firefighters while reducing salt and sand on covered streets during winter. The agencies also proposed eliminating the school crossing guard program and reducing lifeguards at beaches while closing some city skating rinks.
 
Florida Is Home to the Second-Most Mass Layoffs in the Nation in July

http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2011/08/florida_home_to_the_second-mos.php

Another day, another troubling fact about Florida's jobs situation from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

According to numbers not seasonally adjusted by the BLS, Florida accounted for 147 of the nation's 2,176 mass layoffs in July -- second only to California.

Florida's mass layoffs -- which count as one employer laying off at least 50 workers -- was also the third-highest in the country in June and again the second-highest in the nation in May, according to statistics released yesterday.

This complements last week's data release from the BLS, which showed that Florida lost 22,100 jobs in July -- also the second-largest loss in the country -- while 31 other states actually added jobs.

The state's unemployment rate went from 10.6 percent in June to 10.7 percent for July, while the national unemployment rate dropped slightly, to 9.1 percent.

That still leaves around 987,000 Floridians out of jobs out of the 9.2 million-person labor force, according to the state's Agency for Workforce Innovation.
 
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