The State of Wisconsin is scheduled to issue $621,980,000 in General Fund Annual Appropriations Refunding Bonds the week of October 28th. The negotiated sale has Citigroup and Barclays as its principal underwriters. About the Bonds Proceeds from the bond issuance will...
Municipal Finance – Public Pension Funds
What Illinois Can Learn From the Supreme Court of Rhode Island and Even Puerto Rico About Public Pension Reform
By James E. Spiotto The U.S. Supreme Court and virtually all state courts have recognized what the Rhode Island Supreme Court recently reaffirmed: insurmountable, unaffordable government contractual obligations for public pensions must be capable of reasonable and...
Not All Cities Have A Pension Problem
By Richard A. Ciccarone, President & CEO of Merritt Research Services, LLC and Co-Owner of MUNINET, LLC The Top 21% of Cities With High Pension Funding Levels Deserve Attention and Usually Praise With so much well-deserved negative attention focused on cities...
Risk Perception of State and Local Government Debt May Stress Taxes and Leverage Without a Certainty of Payment – Use of Statutory Liens, Special Revenues and Other Means of Assurance
By James E. Spiotto Fiscal distress of or perception of risk of nonpayment by government begets higher cost of borrowing and even loss of access to the market The perception of fiscal distress leads to higher interest rates (cost of borrowing) in the global markets:...
City Public Pensions Plans– Those That Go It Alone vs. Those that Share the Liability With Other Governments
Funding Ratios for City Government Multi-Employer Plans Don’t Get the Attention that Goes to Single Employer Plans Breakdown by Pension Plan Type While most government watchdogs focus heavily on single employer public pension plans accountable only to a single city, ...
Cincinnati — Taking a Look at One City’s Approach to Alleviating the Burden of Pension Legacy Costs
Legacy costs, especially for mature cities, can carry a long lasting burden on the finances of municipalities challenged by massive unfunded pension liabilities and retiree health care costs. Those cities most affected by these burdens also typically experience high...
Assessing the Credit Quality of America’s Cities – Part Two: The Achilles Heel to the Fiscal Condition of Cities – Public Pensions
In the second part of our series on city credit quality, the spotlight shifts to the Achilles heel for many cities: public pensions. by Richard A. Ciccarone Governmental credit quality is a byproduct of both the underlying economy and the cumulative...
Detroit’s Bankruptcy and Pension Solution Depends More on its Planned Recovery and Rebirth – Not Just Cutting Costs
Against a backdrop of its Chapter 9 bankruptcy filing, Detroit is at a crossroads; but a sound Recovery Plan and reinvestment into infrastructure and government services can help bring the Motor City back, and position it for a brighter future.
Pension Concerns Run Deep
Public and private sector employees alike are worried about their financial future upon retirement
Sharing Cost of Public Employee Health Insurance Could Ease Budget Gaps
Increasing employee contribution could decrease burden on municipalities’ coffers