Stockton California....

[recycled sixtie]

I see on the news that Stockton is bankrupt. What happens to a city that goes broke? How do the City employees get paid?

[biosurfer1]

Yay to my hometown!

The city has to put together a plan by tomorrow that will involve keeping day to day operations running at a minimum. Police/fire/etc.

They have already laid off 33% of the firefighters, 40% of police, 40% of city workers. They stopped paying "rent" for the city hall building so Wells Fargo took it back which sent the city running to move into another building (one I help work on actually). Its basically a huge mess now. My dad was a firefighter for 28 years in Stockton and it looks like retiree medical wasn't funded for years so that is in jeopardy. Bad bad situation they got going on there for sure

[Zeke]

There must be a bond that will cover some things like pay. Otherwise, from what I've read (they aren't the first in CA to go belly up), it's a restructuring of debt. They use a rare form; Chapter 9.

[Steve Carlton]

Why can't Chris Isaak just cut a check?

[speeder]

They laid off 40% of the police force?? Good place to go and sell some crack, maybe bring some hookers up there.

See, there is a silver lining to everything. You just need to be able to see the lemonade.

[aigel]

Everyone in town is already bankrupt - Stockton had one of the worst housing bubbles in the country. Why not the city now too!? It probably is related, as all those empty foreclosed homes probably don't pay much property tax. Combine that with cop and fire salaries and retirements ...

In Stockton it will be ugly with half the cops gone home! In other communities in CA I feel that it would only help as the popo are way overstaffed and start getting bored, putting up speed traps.

G

[tabs]

Speed Traps raise revenue which creates job security and they are fulfilling a public good. Maybe the City of Stockton should ban Big Gulps over 16 oz like NYC and give a Ticket to anyone caught indulging in that unhealty behavior. Next we need to eat Broccoli at least once a week...Tuesday and Friday would be good.

[recycled sixtie]

How about privatizing it? That is sell it. It could be listed on the stock exchange. If you can sell Facebook on a public offering, then u can sell anything. The above posters have suggestions about making $$$$ there so they can be implemented. The proceeds can help finance the firemen's pension fund. The Stockonians can not only be proud Americans but also proud owners of Stockton. How good is that?!?

[vash]

I heard it was a move to restructure the deals with the unions. The workers are screwed. It happened to Vallejo CA already. Several years ago.

[biosurfer1]

Originally Posted by speeder

They laid off 40% of the police force?? Good place to go and sell some crack, maybe bring some hookers up there.

See, there is a silver lining to everything. You just need to be able to see the lemonade.

You obviously haven't been there...both are already present and accounted for

Stockton really isnt that bad of town. I lived there for 22 years and grew up. There are great parts of town and not so great.

I can say with 99.99% certainty that the housing bubble caused this. Aigel has it right that with so many foreclosed houses, the tax rev isn't flowing in like 2004. Poor planning by the city managers back then didn't help either.

[vash]

vallejo survived..so will stockton, hopefully.

Vallejo Bankruptcy Over: City Emerges From Three Years Of Fiscal Nightmare

[9dreizig]

this is just the tip of the iceberg,, they set them selves up for it as it's a vicious circle..
Unions extract dues from employees..
Dues are used as payola to get elected officials under their control (campaign funds etc).
Elected officials grant ridiculous benefits (explain to me how a cop or fireman can earn $150k a year in retirement at age 50 ?? )..
I say let them go belly up and start from scratch!

[speeder]

Originally Posted by recycled sixtie

How about privatizing it? That is sell it. It could be listed on the stock exchange. If you can sell Facebook on a public offering, then u can sell anything. The above posters have suggestions about making $$$$ there so they can be implemented. The proceeds can help finance the firemen's pension fund. The Stockonians can not only be proud Americans but also proud owners of Stockton. How good is that?!?

Ahhhhhh...that's sort of silly since the citizens already own the city, (and the state, and the country). Unless the entire USA has been privatized when I wasn't looking.

It could have happened.

[dan88911]

And I think Stockton leads the list in auto thefts.

[scottmandue]

Group buy!

We pool our money and buy Stockton! who needs a friggin island!

We will make our own rules!

[Racerbvd]

(explain to me how a cop or fireman can earn $150k a year in retirement at age 50 ?? )..

Well, 1st they have to live to see age 50...

[glewis80SC]

Originally Posted by 9dreizig

this is just the tip of the iceberg,, they set them selves up for it as it's a vicious circle..
Unions extract dues from employees..
Dues are used as payola to get elected officials under their control (campaign funds etc).
Elected officials grant ridiculous benefits (explain to me how a cop or fireman can earn $150k a year in retirement at age 50 ?? )..
I say let them go belly up and start from scratch!

I know a few retired guys and they are not earning that kind of money.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by speeder

Ahhhhhh...that's sort of silly since the citizens already own the city, (and the state, and the country). Unless the entire USA has been privatized when I wasn't looking.

It could have happened.

I don't think we own the infrastructure or the public lands, but we pay for it. I have heard of small towns selling to private parties. That would mainly be the property and improvements although I guess some intellectual property could be included. Like if you bought the town "Mammoth Lakes" I suppose the name goes with it.

But how would the money be distributed? I somehow don't think the population would get a cent for the "publicly" owned assets. And if the municipality is BK, then the money goes to the creditors.

It's weird when you think about it. I mean how does the federal government "own" land in CA? Or NV? In those cases it's 45% and 85% (roughly) respectively.

[9dreizig]

Originally Posted by glewis80SC

I know a few retired guys and they are not earning that kind of money.

It's actually pretty east,, start with a base of 80 or 90k , then have a retirement plan that pays 80% of your LAST years income. Just make sure that you load up on overtime working 80-90 hrs a week for the last year at 1.5-2x base per hour for OT..

[aigel]

Originally Posted by glewis80SC

I know a few retired guys and they are not earning that kind of money.

Dunno - I see retired cops and firemen at the track and they aren't driving old SCs and small beater RVs. The other issue is that these guys retire at a young age - at least 10 years ahead of what you would see in private industry. How many of these retirees does the average town have to support?

G