Chicagoland: Cash Reserves Plunge, Debt Triples…WOONSOCKET ROCKET: City Hikes Taxes 23%

InvestmentWatch

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