Vote for John Carlson on Election Day,
Tuesday, November 8th."
Council Candidate Writes on Bond Ratings.
Posted on Friday, July 15 @ 01:39:51 EDT by jfbailey
WPCNR MR. & MRS. & MS. WHITE PLAINS VIEWS. July 15, 2005:
John Carlson, Candidate for Common Council shares bond
rating concerns:
Dear John Bailey,
You wrote an interesting article. You touched the nerve of
responsible, concerned citizens. The City's financial condition
is one of the reasons I am running for Common Council. I want
to use my corporate banking experience to help stop the
decline in the City's bond rating.
According to Moody's, the City's long-term debt level is now
$74.5 million. This isn't Monopoly money! This level of debt
works out to $1,400 per resident or $3,800 per household. The
taxpayers have to cover the interest charges on this debt
year-after-year. Furthermore, as long as the City keeps
running operating losses, we're stuck with this level of debt.
The debt will have to be refinanced since it is unlikely that any
portion could be repaid. Interest rates are going up, not
down. This debt burden makes it more difficult for seniors to
stay here and more difficult for first-time home buyers (ie, our
children) to afford White Plains.
The City has run operating losses for the past 3-years. If the
Federal budget deficit bothers us, so should the City's. I am
committed to restore the City's fiscal integrity.
On a technical matter, I should point out that Moody's rates
the City's underlying, general obligation debt "Aa1" not "1-A".
Sincerely,
John Carlson
The CitizeNetReporter thanks Mr. Carlson for catching the Aa1
error.
Original CitizeNetReporter article:
City Worries About Its Bond Rating.
Posted on Thursday, July 14 @ 09:04:59 EDT by jfbailey
WPCNR QUILL & EYESHADE. July 14, 2005: With roughly $2.5
Million in City Bonds authorized by the Common Council in the
last two months to fund capitol projects, city hall is considering
putting out the bonds to market. If they wish to enjoy the best
interest rates available, the city needs to have the issues rated
again by Moody's Investors Service. The last time the city went to
bond in January, Moody's dropped the city bond rating to Aa-1
Negative, and told the city to bring expenses in line with
revenues. Contingent on bringing expenses more in line with
revenues was continued robust sales tax collections, of which
the final figures for the last quarter of 2004-05 (ended June 30)
are due any day now, if they have not already been obtained.
WPCNR's query as to what the final sales tax collections were for
June has not been answered by either Ann Reasoner, the city
Budget Director, or Mr. Wood, the city executive officer. Not even
a preliminary end of fiscal year status report has been delivered
to the Common Council, to WPCNR knowledge. The Common
Council which one would presume would be most interested in
the city budget condition at several public meetings has failed to
even raise the question of "how are we doin".
A WPCNR call to the Executive Officer Paul Wood yesterday
inquiring when the city was going to go out for the new bonds,
whether they would try private placement (calling for higher
interest rates), or whether they were going to invite Moody's
back for another dog-and-pony show by White Plains officials to
convince Moody's to raise the bond rating, or "keep it where it is"
have not been returned. A WPCNR call to the Budget Director
Ann Reasoner's office asking if the city sales tax figures were in
yet for the last quarter of 2004-2005, was not returned and
WPCNR was informed that all my inquiries had to be directed to
the Mayor's Office. So we're directing, but they are not returning
calls in a timely and earnest manner.
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"The fresh
candidate with
the right skills
for serving the
citizens of White
Plains better."
“He can do a
better job serving
the people of White
Plains, November
8th is time for a
change.”
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