City of Hartford, CT close to declarin bankruptcy

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this makes no sense, why handicap the city from collecting property tax?


"Bronin has stressed that the state must be a partner in pulling Hartford from the brink of financial ruin, noting that more than half of the city's properties are tax-exempt and that Hartford has limited options for revenue. But the state has its own problems, with a more than $2 billion budget gap estimated for next year. It is unclear whether there is support in the General Assembly for bailing out Hartford."
 
Yup, CT is a less than ideal place to live right now.

The State of CT is a perfect example of corruption running wild. We are in a multi-billion dollar hole, and it has nothing to do with incoming state revenue. Our state is one of the richest in the nation, so we have no problem with incoming revenue, it is just very poorly managed.

I worked at the state for a year as an IT contractor. You had people who made six figure salaries who literally couldn't spell their own name. Their managers knew they were incompetent, but unions protected them. The first thing the state does when it runs into budget problems is lay off all of the newer, younger state employees who make significantly less. This keeps the highly paid incompetent people running things and making the budget worse.

We had multiple projects that were started, millions were wasted, then the projects stopped and people were laid off due to lack of funding.
 
A city cannot hold a bank account and therefore cannot go bankrupt. There are humans who maintain the bank account, and the organisation they represent is what Is going bankrupt.
Vote to dissolve their organisation and make their liabilities personal, then elect new officials with a new bank account.
 
Let me guess - pensions obligations to police, firefighters and city employees along with salaries and head counts that are above private industry are causing most of the financial pressures.
Elected officials stay in office as they say yes to contract demands and as there is no alternative they have to say yes.
How broken is that !
House of cards time for pretty well every city in North America. Just look at Dallas as an example.
Our municipality has a population base of 160,000, yet has a budget of $600 million per year. And only $38 million is spent on road upkeep as an example.
You ask the average citizen how much the annual spend of the city is, and they guess $50 million. I tell them the real number and you get a blank stare - they cannot comprehend it.
Just crazy.
 
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The state wants to cash in it's "rainy day" fund to reduce this years deficit, with a 5 trillion dollar deficit predicted for next year ! There is no hope !
 
Been in Connecticut all my life. Was a nice place to live up to the mid 2000's. But you could see all the current woes coming over a decade ago. Still, some parts of the state are doing very well while others have been depressed for a long time.
 
Originally Posted By: Bambam
The state wants to cash in it's "rainy day" fund to reduce this years deficit, with a 5 trillion dollar deficit predicted for next year ! There is no hope !


You must mean $5 BILLION? There'd be no one left in the state with a $5 TRILL deficit.

Lots of big cities and states are currently bankrupt. They just won't report it as so.
 
Originally Posted By: CT8
Government employees cost the taxpayers too much.

Yup that's 90% of the problem...every city, state, and the U.S.
 
Originally Posted By: 69GTX
Lots of big cities and states are currently bankrupt. They just won't report it as so.


This.

They simply cook the books to hide it.

A local city here has not yet funded all the pensions that are coming due! People should go to jail for making financial decisions like that with taxpayer money!
 
In some large cities, metropolitan housing authorities account for 1/3 of the overall budget. Overtime for employees have to cost a bunch, but some argue that benefits aren't paid out on overtime wages which makes it cheaper than hiring new or more employees. I really don't know. Just throwing some stuff out there fishing for some good counterpoints / agreements / arguments. Call me a troll I guess.
 
Originally Posted By: 69GTX
Originally Posted By: Bambam
The state wants to cash in it's "rainy day" fund to reduce this years deficit, with a 5 trillion dollar deficit predicted for next year ! There is no hope !


You must mean $5 BILLION? There'd be no one left in the state with a $5 TRILL deficit.

Lots of big cities and states are currently bankrupt. They just won't report it as so.


Yes Billion, not trillion.
 
Originally Posted By: Danno

... (snip) ...
House of cards time for pretty well every city in North America. Just look at Dallas as an example.
Our municipality has a population base of 160,000, yet has a budget of $600 million per year. And only $38 million is spent on road upkeep as an example.
You ask the average citizen how much the annual spend of the city is, and they guess $50 million. I tell them the real number and you get a blank stare - they cannot comprehend it.
Just crazy.


Interesting, my city (pop 220,000) has an annual budget of $C 482 million ($US 362 million). They collect garbage, have a very extensive public library system, and in general offer many amenities to the citizens. Currently building two bridges (seven existing) across a relatively wide river (bridges average ¼ mile across).

Municipalities in Canada cannot levy any taxes beyond property taxes*; the median** tax bill is $C 2200/yr ($US 1650). Quite a contrast.

* The Property Tax includes Education, it's roughly 50:50 City and Public School.

** The point where half pay less and half pay more. The median home assessment is $C 325,000 ($US 243,000).
 
There will come a day, when you cant rob Peter, to pay Paul. There just will be no money left. It will be "interesting" to see the results. Rome collapsed. America will too.
 
Originally Posted By: bubbatime
There will come a day, when you cant rob Peter, to pay Paul. There just will be no money left. It will be "interesting" to see the results. Rome collapsed. America will too.


So did Greece.
 
It's just a matter of time before the proverbial chickens come home to roost. The city is bankrupt and will look to the state to bail it out but the state is bankrupt and will look to the Feds to bail them out but the Feds are bankrupt but still living high because they can print as much worthless paper as they like. The left hand (the Federal Reserve) buys the debt of the right hand (the Treasury) with...with...well, with nothing. It's the greatest Ponzi Scheme in human history. One day, the bubble will burst, cascading all kinds of pain throughout this society. I am embarrassed at the condition my Baby Boomer generation has left this country in for future generations. We have literally robbed the country of its future. Shame on this evil political class for serving only its self-interest.

God help us.
 
Certainly there are problems, but it has to be said that this generation didn't exactly find itself with a perfect legacy left from the previous one. The level of pollution in 1970 was an order of magnitude worse than today, for example.

It's true that the next generation will inherit many chronic issues that will have to be dealt with, but I'm confident they are capable of coping. And they will leave their offspring with some new issues, it's certain. Life goes on.

Debt via Government Bonds isn't as onerous as one might at first expect. It's largely money owed to Americans by Americans. Even if there is a default, it's like writing off debt you owe to yourself. The greatest effect is simple loss of confidence in the ability to repay future obligations, which makes future debt more expensive.

But it rarely results in anything close to financial ruin; America will be around for a long, long time. Maybe not the dominant position it holds now, but everybody gets a kick at the cat for a while. Sweden once was the dominant military power of Europe; the Dutch once ruled the waters of the world. They are still around, doing OK.
 
Originally Posted By: Al
Originally Posted By: CT8
Government employees cost the taxpayers too much.

Yup that's 90% of the problem...every city, state, and the U.S.


Just out of curiosity...

How exactly do you expect a city to run if it doesn't have employees?
Or would you rather just prefer chaos in the area you live, 24/7?

BC.
 
Originally Posted By: Al
Originally Posted By: CT8
Government employees cost the taxpayers too much.

Yup that's 90% of the problem...every city, state, and the U.S.


I work for a very conservatively run city in Texas. We all do not make big money, and we all do a lot of hard work.

I make MUCH less than someone doing IT for a private company in Texas would make, but quality of life is good.
 
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