For the previous three fiscal years and into the current one, with public services languishing and ready cash scarce, Stockton, Calif., officials have spent nearly $16.3 million and budgeted another $25 million for costs associated with Stockton’s chapter 9 bankruptcy, the Stockton Record reported yesterday. Those numbers — totaling $41,268,363 — stand as the current total projected expenditures for Stockton’s descent into insolvency. Based on the city’s latest projections, more than $11 million of that sum could be used to pay down about $48 million in settlements and obligations that will remain even after Stockton emerges from bankruptcy. But first, the city awaits Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Klein’s ruling on whether to approve Stockton’s chapter 9 exit plan, 28 months after the City Council took the historic step of acknowledging financial ruin. Judge Klein is scheduled to announce whether he has decided to confirm Stockton’s proposed bankruptcy Plan of Adjustment at 10 a.m. PT today.
