For anyone that wants to take the time to read it, the attached link lays out the steps required for a Federal Bankruptcy for a municipality. http://www.jonesday.com/An-Overview-of-Chapter-9-of-the-Bankruptcy-Code-Municipal-Debt-Adjustments-08-15-2010/
It could be a bumpy road for Hartford.
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34 comments:
Bronin doesn't appear to have the skills or will to fix Hartford and avoid bankruptcy. The sooner they start bankruptcy, the sooner they will emerge. His fast track on Malloy's coattails to DC went down in flames last November.
what is that old saying ?"When you practice to deceive" or something along those lines
Oh what a tangled web we weave.
When first we practice to deceive. - Sir Walter Scott (Marmion, 1808),
And boy is Hartford and the Bronin Administration a tangled web
Bronin doesn't appear to have the skills or will to fix Hartford and avoid bankruptcy.
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I'm betting that Mayor Bronin would prefer to avoid bankruptcy. Not that it will have been his fault, but it can't look as good on his resume as if he were mayor of a town that can actually pay its bills. In general we prefer to avoid bankruptcy, too, but our pols at both a local and state level have been unable to even acknowledge that Hartford's municipal government has structural problems, let alone address them. The City has much more government than it can afford. I don't know to what extent a bankruptcy may address the structural problems, but at least it may deal with the mountain of debt and obligations so far accumulated. So, as you say, the sooner the better.
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“We still have enormous challenges delivering services in the city every day, but at least now we are no longer a city that’s in bankruptcy,” said Mr. Duggan, who took office almost a year ago, even as Mr. Orr held control of most major decisions and as the bankruptcy case was making its way through court. “So we’re going to start fresh tomorrow. And we’re going to do the best we can to deliver the kind of services that the people in the city deserve.”
Mr. Duggan said that the reorganization plan — which allows Detroit to shed $7 billion of its debts and to spend about $1.7 billion to remake its dismal city services over the next 10 years — “gives us the tools to have a chance to succeed.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/11/us/detroit-bankruptcy-ending.html?_r=0
Bronin has a wake up call coming this summer in the city. They can barely staff events and staff patrol cars in the city. Anyone with less then ten year should leave now. Morale and staffing shortages will only add sauce to the goose.
Newer officers are not going to want to be forced to work doubles. The recruitment unit was a failed lab experiment. Why has the National Guard units not been issued applications? You would think with the self proclaimed education of the Lt in there, that maybe already seasoned military personnel would be logical. The standards set by CT Post will never be achievable by most city residents. This is a fact and needs to be accepted so a proper solution can be discussed. This summer will look like the wild west. it is going to take a decade to beef up the police and fire dept.
Why are heated bus stops needed in downtown Hartford? Why is Hartford paying for the 3 million dollar Hartford Hospital water bill every year?
Why did the bricks on pratt street need to be removed to only put exactly the same bricks back at a cost of 3 million? These are only some of the 3rd grade educated city hall think tank schemes that have sent the city into the cesspool of human civilization. Don't get me started on that ball park .......over 100 million thus far and operating red cost of 5 mill a year.
Who makes these decisions? These city council members all should be voted out next election.
Pack your bags Foley, and other 20 year hold outs. This is the push you all need before your pensions are cut in half. Waterbury is a prefect example. 30-40 percent of your base pay for your pension calculations might make you sleep well tonight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
All this uncertainty is scary. You go into a job planning your life around your pay, benefits, and promotions, and its all coming crashing down. What the hell did I get into. Feeling trapped. The people chosen to run this city and state are completely inept. Honestly is the budget this hard? stop the bs spending, figure something out. Tax all these damn churches and nonprofits, they're scams. Crack down on all these irrelevant city positions as well....and yet we are still expected to perform as best as we can under all these cuts and uncertainty....are we that stupid?
Gravy train is over. Retired folks should also treed lightly .
I love working at this PD Kev and as a guy with less than 10 years on, I will not accept watered down benefits. I promise I will look else where even out of state if I have too. As for the 40 looking to leave for other agencies; I think its well above 40 kev...I would say 70 and I am not even including the recent academy class...many of whom will jump overboard once they get a little experience.
2:04pm: Hartford paying Hartford Hospital 3 millions water bill? Is this for real?
10:13PM
I think they meant their MDC sewage fees, and I am not sure exactly how that works for non-profits, but I will try to find out. Keep in mind though that the free medical services provided by both Hartford Hospital and Saint Francis would amount to much more than the sewage fee.
9:59pm
I appreciate what you are saying, especially in the current climate. It is wrong to try to balance the City's budget on the backs of our Police and Firefighters, who deserve every penny they get. No one has set their own salaries or increased their own pensions. The benefits have been negotiated by both parties, the City and the Union's, in good faith over the years and now the bill is coming due. No one at the City level seems to be taking this matter seriously, and the lack of Police Officers and fire fighters is going to be a monumental crisis for the residents of Hartford in short order. And thank you for what you do and the service to our City by all of our Police officers and firefighters, if the Mayor and others at City Hall don't appreciate it, myself and many others do.
The sorry excuse that is the CT economy is starting to get national attention, not mainstream yet...
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-05-10/connecticut-state-capital-prepares-
bankruptcy-amid-collapse-hedge-fund-revenue
Glastonbury is hiring, Just sayin'...
Read the pension commission agendas, and see the police officers with pensions higher than their base pay, starting earlier than age 50. It's not that I begrudge them a pension, but Hartford can't afford that. Then add in the "embers" retirees, who get free health care for themselves and their spouses for the rest of their lives.
6:49PM
Point well taken, but where have the City's so called leaders been for the last half century to warn that these benefits were unsustainable? These retirees did not give themselves these benefits, they have just taken advantage of benefits they earned and were negotiated by the previous Administrations, now it has come time to pay up
Kev, Why no talk of at least three generations of Hartford residents receiving subsidized housing,healthcare,EBT cards etc. Do they factor in to Hartfords demise? I wish my employer gave me more pay for more kids!
@9:59
Hey pal, or should I say, "Officer," guess what, we can't afford all those union perks you were hoping for. And you will hardly find it anywhere else.
A new day has dawned. You can still make a good living. But forget about those $100,000.00 plus deals. That's over.
8:58
Those retirees did give themselves those benefits. They had surrogate do their bidding. It's called a union.
You cant keep robbing peter to pay paul amd you cant keep borrowing momey cause youll always be in debt this house is burning and theres no water in sight
Hartford already gets approx. 50% of its spending paid for by state taxpayers. It's a city so it has a mix of businesses and residencies that should be well able to pay for its needs. What went wrong?
If Hartford really wants to avoid bankruptcy, which may be impossible due to contractual obligations, they need to rip up the entire budget and start fresh, only funding needs and not wants. Heated bus stops are not essential are they? Baseball stadium giveaways to wealthy owners? Really?
@11:14
I would go to Glastonbury but I hear they have to do a physical agility test every year. That's all that's stopping me, but the good news is on Policeapp dot com the certified officer section looks very fertile in terms of jobs.
As for the pending downfall of Hartford that is inevitable. You have guys/gals here retiring with pensions that are absolutely ridiculous kev. In fact, that's why I still work here.
If in fact that's why you still work there, those pension days are done. Especially after July 1, 2016.
Bring back Eddie Perez !!!!!!
July 1, 2017 that is. Bail now
Kevin, you bring up a very valid point about the abscense of sound fiscal leadership through the decades. I have observed the callus disregard with expenditures. Probably caulk it up to human nature. One spends without panic until the financial problems are biting them in the rump. I tried reasoning with Segarra on the stadium development and it was like talking to a wall. I spoke with Cynthia Jennings and she kept throwing back at me that Hartfod needed to provide jobs for its unemployed.
What are ya gonna do? They are elected by the majority of those who vote. The mean IQ level in Hartford is not very high. Hence, financial mayhem now enveloping the city. I had a discussion with a former assistant manager 20 some odd years ago and asked her why Hartford kept passing bond expenditures for school rebuilds. Her answer was that the bonds would never affect the mil rate. Oh my God. Such brazen ignorance.
If I lived in a surrounding town, I would strongly urge my elected reps to not give one red cent to Hartford. And I live here in Hartford.
I do feel bad for employees that are watching their benefits threatened. But it was unfair to give such generous bennies in the first place. If anything these disheartened employees should blame the Union for getting all they asked for. Ya, right. I recall a mayor that once gave out golden bennies to retire just so friends of this individual could be hired. The stories abound. I knew a longtime employee whose position developed into a meaningless one after changes were made. But he was kept on for years doing non essential duties. He was finally laid off but not before accruing big pension time. Se la vive.
Good luck To one of the most respected 20 yr traffic sgt to ever put on a uniform. An honor to serve and learn from you. I salute you. God bless you. Enjoy pumping iron in the florida sun. A loss for the dept.
Traffic Cone,
And a true gentleman and a great supervisor. You will be hard to replace JB, not many bosses left like you. Enjoy your retirement, well deserved
At May 11, 2017 at 6:49 PM
No HPD retiree I know gets free health care for themself let alone includiing their spouses. We pay for it, some retirees more than others depending oon when you retired.
Wrong kozi, Daryll Keith Roberts does along with Brian Heavren, along with every prior chief and assistant chief. It's called the EMBERS package.
Which I'm sure Rovella has, but has since been discontinued for assistant chief's.
Pretty easy to discontinue since Chief Rovella has gone without any Assistant Chiefs for some time
Whay Kozi meant was no member of the union from HPD gets the free healthcare. Those you mentioned are not union members. The current mayor will get the same package when he leaves.
7:56pm
Of course he will, politicians have a way of taking care of themselves so they don't have to play by the same rules they expect the little people to live by
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