Kevyn Orr, the emergency manager appointed by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder to try to resolve the Detroit financial crisis, has effectively replaced the Detroit mayor, former NBA legend Dave Bing. However, it is Orr who in the upcoming weeks
Jefferson County
Panic in Detroit? Motor City Moves Closer to Possible Chapter 9 Filing
Detroit has seen signs of revival in its urban core following the near-death experiences of GM and Chrysler. Unfortunately, its municipal finances remain beaten down by the city’s long and precipitous decline over the past several decades. Labor and legacy costs, incurred…
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Stockton, California Chapter 9 Filing – Another Outlier, Or Harbinger?
Meredith Whitney, one of the first financial analysts to foresee the collapse of the housing market, famously predicted in December 2010 that a wave of municipal bond defaults was on the way. The wave, however, has yet to materialize, and…
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State Legislature to Alabama’s Jefferson County: Drop Dead?
Opposing lawyers for Jefferson County, the debtor in the largest Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy case ever filed, and the holders of its sewer warrants squared off last week in the ongoing fight over control of the County’s sewer system and…
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Throwing Money (Literally) Down the Sewer – Jefferson County and Warrant Holders Square Off on Sewer System Operating Expenses
U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Thomas Bennett last month upheld the Chapter 9 bankruptcy filing of Jefferson County, Alabama, the largest municipal bankruptcy case in history. As has been widely reported, the County’s financial woes were precipitated by the disastrous funding…
The Right Kind of Broke? Judge Weighs Deeply Insolvent County’s Eligibility For Chapter 9 Protection
The travails of Jefferson County, Alabama are well known. Ordered by a federal court to upgrade its sewer system in the late 1990’s, the project was marred by corruption, cost overruns and financing with complex derivatives that ultimately saddled the County…