CHICAGOLAND: Cash reserves plunge, debt triples
Mayor Rahm Emanuel closed the books on 2012 with $33.4 million in
unallocated cash on hand — down from $167 million the year before —
while adding to the mountain of debt piled on Chicago taxpayers,
year-end audits show.
Last week, Moody’s Investors ordered an unprecedented triple-drop in
the city’s bond rating, citing Chicago’s “very large and growing”
pension liabilities, “significant” debt service payments, “unrelenting
public safety demands” and historic reluctance to raise local taxes that
has continued under Emanuel.
http://www.suntimes.com/21552920-761/city-of-chicagos-cash-cushion-plummets-debt-triples-arrests-drop-water-use-rises.html
WOONSOCKET ROCKET: City hikes taxes 23%
WOONSOCKET — When about 30,000 supplemental tax bills are mailed out
Tuesday, it will be, city officials hope, the last major part of a
five-year plan to balance the city’s books, pay off an $8.1-million
deficit and stabilize the pension fund.
The supplemental tax will raise $2.5 million from multifamily
residential real estate and motor vehicles, and the money will be used
to balance the 2012-13 budget, which ended June 30. That assessment is
also built into the 2013-14 tax rate, along with a 4-percent tax
increase and a cut in the homestead exemption, which means the average
homeowner in the city will see a 23-percent increase in his or her tax
bill.
Taxpayers aren’t the only ones who will take a hit. The
state-appointed Budget Commission, which has been running the city since
May 2012, said its plan cuts $4.7 million by reducing city employee
health benefits and increasing employee and retiree contributions.
http://www.providencejournal.com/breaking-news/content/20130728-woonsocket-hopes-supplemental-tax-will-be-end-of-deficits.ece
AP: 4 out of 5 in USA face near-poverty, no work
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/exclusive-4-5-us-face-near-poverty-no-work-0
Whites below poverty line at 41%, twice number of poor blacks
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_POVERTY_STRUGGLING_WHITES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-07-29-03-59-28
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