Chicago - A message from the station manager

The [Thursday] Papers

By Steve Rhodes

“For years, Chicago has patched up budget deficits with long-term borrowing – an expensive habit that Mayor Rahm Emanuel inherited, perpetuated and has vowed to break,” the Tribune reports.
“But a Tribune analysis of the city’s latest bond sale, a $1.2 billion offering earlier this year, shows that the mayor will continue to run the city with borrowed money, at great long-term expense, through the rest of his term in 2019.”
I can’t wait for the next mayor, who undoubtedly will be one of the current mayor’s biggest cheerleaders, to assume office and immediately blame Rahm for the mess he or she has inherited, declaring that the old way of doing business is over.


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The Trib’s major findings:

* The majority of the money will be used for budget relief and come at a very high cost. Almost all of the additional costs, however, do not kick in until after the end of Emanuel’s current four-year term. By paying only interest for the first several years of the loan, Emanuel can use the funds borrowed this year to smooth out budgets through 2019 at minimal expense.
* Some of the money will be used to refinance previous borrowing but at a higher interest rate. The main advantage for the city is that it kicks the costs further into the future. In all, taxpayers are on the hook for $1.1 billion in interest on the loan, which will cost $2.3 billion to repay over 20 years.
* The city will continue to rely on borrowed money to pay legal settlements, turning to a new stockpiling strategy rather than trying to pay these costs out of its regular operating revenues as many municipalities do. Borrowing this way adds $120 million in interest costs to the $225 million set aside for settlements.

Next, Rahm finds more parking meters to sell.
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BeachBook
Meet The Man Who Calls Journalists On Their Own B.S.

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Chicago-Style In Lilburn, Ga.

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TweetWood
A sampling.


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The Beachwood Tronc Line: Seriously.

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Posted on March 16, 2017