Connecticut would guarantee bonds issued to refinance Hartford’s debt and pay $20 million of the city’s interest bills over the next two years as part of budget agreement hashed out by state lawmakers that would help rescue the capital from financial collapse, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The provision in the spending plan, if passed by lawmakers and signed by the governor, may allow Hartford to avoid becoming the biggest city to go bankrupt since Detroit four years ago. Mayor Luke Bronin has said he would need to explore that step if the state doesn’t pass a budget that helps close the city’s $50 million budget gap and gives it a stronger hand in negotiations with public employees. He also wants concessions from bondholders. Bronin added that he hopes the lawmakers’ proposal "changed the course a little bit.”
