By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH
Published: September 20, 2012
Gov. Jerry Brown of California announced when he came into office last year that he had found an alarming $28 billion “wall of debt” looming over the state, which had to be dismantled.
Since then, he has slowed the issuance of municipal bonds, called for spending cuts and tried to persuade the state’s famously antitax voters to approve a tax increase this fall.
On Thursday, an independent group of fiscal experts said Mr. Brown’s efforts were all well and good, but in fact, the “wall of debt” was several times as big as the governor thought.
Directors of the State Budget Crisis Task Force said their researchers had found a lot of other debts that did not turn up in California’s official tally. Much of it involved irrevocable promises to provide pensions to public workers, health care for retirees, the cost of delayed highway maintenance and an estimated $40 billion bill to bring drinking water up to federal standards.
They also pointed out many of the same unpaid bills from previous years that the governor had brought to light, like $8 billion in delayed payments to schools and community colleges, and $250 million that was raided from a fund dedicated to transportation and treated as revenue.
The task force estimated that the burden of debt totaled at least $167 billion and as much as $335 billion. Its members warned that the off-the-books debts tended to grow over time, so that even if Mr. Brown should succeed in pushing through his tax increase, gaining an additional $50 billion over the next seven years, the wall of debt would still be there, casting its shadow over the state.
To read entire story, click here.
You’re surprised by this??
Here’s a shocker.
The San Bernardino Community College District(Valley and Crafton) owes $974,053,004 on Measure M bonds. That’s a “B”illion Dollars. The final payment, in 2048, is $47,500,000. The district only got $258,312,289 in funds. The rest owed is interest. The LA County Auditor says that borrowing costs should be no more than 3 times the principal. The District is paying $200,000,000 more than 3 times.
There’s another Bond, Measure P, that I’m currently investigating. Who knows how much more it will add?
Incredibly, the board of directors doesn’t know when to stop. They wants to load up the district and the taxpayer with another $240,000,000 in bonds. I guess there’s another “B”illion.
That’s why I’m running for the board. Visit VoteJohnWurm.org
Isn’t James Ramos on the San Bernardino Community College District Board? Maybe you should ask him for an explanation.
Of course, in the unlikely event that you get a response, it will come from his “spokesman
#3 – I’m sure James is clueless regarding this Measure P. He did pay attention enough to vote in favor of getting his $400 stipend whether he attends board meetings or not. Do you think he’s investing his stipend into his two failing business’ ? Might as well flush it down the toilet. Nothing will help his inability to run these business’ properly, and he wants to run the 3rd District?
Maybe he should try “marketing” them in a new way. That’s what he says he’ll do up here in Big Bear to stimulate tourism.
Wait a minute ….. “if” elected, he won’t have the opportunity to “engage” the community because he’ll be running for the CD31 in two years. Be careful with a mis-guided fellow with millions of dollars to goof around with. You never know what kind of mischief he can get himself into.
Ybarra…..Ya, you are right, just look at Derry. He doesn’t have any money and he got himself in to trouble.
Is there a good conservative group in Big Bear that would be interested in hearing more about the debt load of the San Bernardino Community College dist? I’m trying to get the word out through the dist. Visit my page on Facebook: John Wurm