Southern California — this just in
September 21, 2010 | 8:51 am
A Wall Street rating agency downgraded Bell’s credit ratings Tuesday, saying the city’s financial woes put it at risk of defaulting on an upcoming debt payment, according to Business Wire.
Fitch Ratings downgraded bonds totaling $57 million to “B” and “B-” level, saying “credit risks include a prospective default on a sizable $35 million unrated privately placed debt obligation due Nov. 1, 2010.”
The action comes after state auditors said last week they had found a third instance in which the city of Bell collected taxes illegally, bringing to $5.6 million the amount owed to taxpayers and raising questions about how the struggling town will balance its books. In all, auditors’ findings of tax and assessment overcharges amount to $5.6 million, or more than one-third of the city’s $13.5-million general fund.
Also on Wednesday, Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown announced a civil lawsuit against eight Bell officials and council members, accusing them of fraud and misuse of public funds.
To read entire story, click here.
Next comes the announcement of a municipal corporate bankruptcy in Bell. Just as with the banking/lending industry failures, Bell is the first domino to fall and will be followed by many others that do not have their financial houses in order.
LSW: I can just envision this happening with the County of San Bernardino in the not-too-distant future!
Bell never admitted they were BK…
… it takes a reality check of about 2 years and poof, San Berdoo City is in deep do do, and who will be the only parties to benefit in this SB City BK fiasco?
You guessed it, master manipulator San Bernardino City Attorney Jimmy P. and his waves of lawyering friends (that just happen to specialize in Municipal Bankruptcy), that’s who… would you call this double-dipping in the legal services fraud department, or what!?
Because of this relationship to the lawyering community, what is the incentive for the City of San Bernardino to have any success in the BK proceedings through the CA court system?
There is none, because failure just ends-up getting Jimmy and his lawyering friends higher fees aka MO’ MONEY (and its all about public funds, so there’s a never ending supply, right Jimmy?)
Hey DA Mikey, doesn’t this qualify as a MISAPPROPRIATION OF PUBLIC FUNDS to go BK just because you’ve lost the RDA and you can blame it on the State (and Jimmy’s got that old “I’LL SHOW THEM” mentality to keep hiking-up his fees and all the SB BK legal expenses, in general?)
But then again, DA Mikey knows all about legal services fraud aka Colonies Settlement and Indemnity lawsuits, and he’s not going to do anything!
Tell you what SB really needs, an INSPECTOR GENERAL w/ prosecutorial authority… what say you Jimmy P.: “No way (in hell)!”