Detroit’s record bankruptcy hasn’t solved one financial problem that’s plagued the city for at least a decade: Getting its annual financial report done on time, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan’s administration will miss a March 31 deadline for releasing audited statements for the fiscal year that ended in June, the city said in a regulatory filing. The report is expected to be ready by May 31, the city said, because of holdups from the water and sewer department and library system. Such delays are legion in the $3.7 trillion municipal market, especially when it comes to distressed borrowers at the greatest risk of defaulting. That’s in part because the Securities and Exchange Commission has no direct power to crack down on governments that drag their feet in making routine disclosures, unless it finds evidence of fraud.
