Rhode Island remains on track to make a $2.5 million interest payment next year on bonds that were used to finance the facilities of 38 Studios, a now-bankrupt videogame company founded by former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, Reuters reported yesterday. The state's House Finance Committee approved a budget late Tuesday night that included making an interest payment next May on $75 million of taxable bonds that the state sold in 2010 to make a loan to the company and lure it to Rhode Island. The company's loan payments were originally supposed to secure the bonds. Now the state could wind up paying $89 million for them, according to its director of administration, Richard Licht. Recently, some lawmakers had suggested the state walk away from the debt as it confronts a budget gap of $30 million for the fiscal year starting July 1, raising concerns about Rhode Island's credit rating and also about the willingness of issuers in the $3.7 trillion municipal bond market to honor their debts.
