Due to its lack of accounting for infrastructure assets and all long-term debt and liabilities, including pensions, general fund analysis has limited utility when analyzing municipal financial health. By Richard A. Ciccarone By incorporating the...
Assessing the Credit Quality of Cities
Assessing the Credit Quality of America’s Cities – Part Four: FY 2014 Financial Condition
The most basic sign that a government is living within its means is that it balances its books at the end of the year. Traditionally, most city officials, experts, and observers of state and local government focus primarily on the general fund, usually a government's...
Assessing the Credit Quality of America’s Cities – Part Three: Long-Term Liabilities beyond Pensions
By Richard A. Ciccarone City Financial Challenges Beyond Pensions When Assessing the Credit Quality of America's Cities, pensions aren't the only big long term liability facing America's cities. Add to the list bonded indebtedness, other post-employment benefits...
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...
Assessing the Credit Quality of America’s Cities – Part One: Focus on Bond Ratings
How close to the fiscal distress edge are America's cities? This article, the first in a series, Assessing the Credit Quality of America's Cities, examines the financial health of cities against a backdrop of high ratings issued by the three major credit rating...