A bankruptcy filing by the city of Hartford is one of several options for potentially solving the city's fiscal woes, its mayor says, but legally declaring insolvency is at the bottom of a list of solutions the city is pursuing, HartfordBusiness.com reported today. Not only would bankruptcy cast a darker pall on the city, but even if Hartford won the state's permission tomorrow to file chapter 9, its over-reliance on too much debt and too little revenue from a limited, overtaxed pot of residential/commercial properties would continue hounding it, Mayor Luke Bronin said. New regional revenue sources, along with options other than a costly bankruptcy filing, which would primarily benefit the city by allowing it to crack open collectively bargained pacts with its city workers, must be identified, Bronin says. Hartford's options for righting its fiscal ship are extremely limited. Hartford sits as the state's most property-tax burdened municipality, with a mill rate of $74.29 for every $1,000 of assessed property value. Read more.
Is chapter 9 coming to a city near you? Panel at ABI’s Central States Bankruptcy Workshop will examine in June. Click here for more information and to register.
