Stockton, California to file for bankruptcy
A Chapter 9 bankruptcy by the city of nearly 300,000 in California's Central Valley, about 85 miles (135 km) east of San Francisco, could come as early as Wednesday.
Stockton's city council voted six to one in favor of the 2012-2013 budget after a contentious five-hour meeting where angry retired city workers pressed council members to reject the $155 million spending plan. It proposes eliminating retirees' medical benefits to help fill a $26 million budget deficit.
...
Stockton has also suffered a sharp drop in revenue since the collapse of its once red-hot housing market. The housing boom transformed the farming city into a distant bedroom community of the San Francisco Bay area and its bust put Stockton at or near the top of national foreclosure rankings in recent years.
...
The $3.7 trillion U.S. municipal bond market has so far taken in stride Stockton's march toward bankruptcy despite the city's more than $700 million in bond debt. Bondholders and bond insurers are among Stockton's 18 creditors.
...
Stockton has already defaulted on about $2 million in debt since February, allowing the trustee for one of its bond insurers to seize a building once slated to be its future city hall and three parking garages.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/27/economy-stockton-idUSL2E8HQ3XU20120627
Commuting from Stockton to the Bay Area? That must be fun! It's 60 miles to Hayward.
= new reply since forum marked as read
