San Bernardino City Mayor Patrick Morris listens as councilman Rikke Van Johnson speaks about the recent city bankruptcy issues during a council meeting on Monday, July 16, 2012.(STAN LIM/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
BY IMRAN GHORI
STAFF WRITER
ighori@pe.com
Published: 16 July 2012 03:11 PM
San Bernardino city officials delayed a vote on whether to declare a fiscal emergency after an emotional hearing on Monday, July 16, where many residents and city employees urged leaders to seek an alternative to bankruptcy.
City officials say they still see no alternative to seeking bankruptcy protection, which a council majority agreed to pursue last week. But as council members debated a fiscal crisis in which the city faces a $45 million deficit, they said more time was needed to get more answers.
“I think it’s not transparent and not representative of what the people want,” said Councilwoman Wendy McCammack who proposed the delay.
The council meets against Wednesday, July 18, at 5 p.m. to vote on the fiscal emergency declaration and a formal resolution authorizing the filing of bankruptcy.
Mayor Pat Morris warned that it’s not a decision that can be delayed too long.
“The longer we delay, the more vulnerable we are, the more difficult our circumstances,” he said.
Last week, interim City Manager Andrea Travis-Miller recommended that the council seek bankruptcy protection because it faced serious cash-flow problems, including questions about whether city employees would get paychecks Aug. 15.
The city’s circumstances have since grown more dire, Travis-Miller said. The city’s credit cards have been canceled and vendors are demanding cash payments for things like fuel for police cars and firetrucks, she said.
At least 25 employees have indicated they would retire, increasing the amount of payments the city would need for accumulated vacation time, Travis-Miller said.
Declaring a fiscal emergency would allow the city to bypass a 60-day mediation period with stakeholders required under bankruptcy law before it can file under Chapter 9.
However, the council agreed unanimously in favor of another motion by McCammack requiring the city manager to begin negotiations with employee unions by Friday.
Travis-Miller said the bankruptcy filing allows the city to pay its bills and provides creditors some certainty that they will get paid.
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The party is over folks, it started 40 years ago when Nixon took us off the Gold standard. The world has been spending like there is no tomorrow ever since.
The collapse is coming, learn to fend for yourself. Oh, they don’t teach that in schools do they?
Stop feeding the snake.