Finance Committee signs off on Johnson’s $830 million general obligation bond issue – Chicago Sun-Times

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s plan to issue $830 million worth of general obligation bonds to bankroll a year’s worth of capital projects cleared a City Council committee Monday amid questions about borrowing that much money when federal funding is at risk and the impact of the city’s recently reduced-bond rating. Chief Financial Officer Jill Jaworski said the liabilities S&P cited in the downgrade include Chicago’s $37 billion pension crisis.
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The Railroader
1 year ago

Best sign up for some insurance on these bonds. They’re going for current year expenses, which is fiscal suicide for any organization. Amtrak tried this once, with the expected results, resulting in massive bailouts from Uncle Fed.

FJB & Fauci too
1 year ago

What are bonds rated at? Latest GO I could find are Refunding bonds issued in December for 287 million.

Fullbladder
1 year ago

The city of Chicago has lost 48,000 business license applicants since 2005, a 67% drop, with no end in sight; a death spiral for the city, Chicago WILL file for bankruptcy, it’s only a matter of when, not if.

debtsor
1 year ago
Reply to  Fullbladder

My personal opinion is that the drop in business licenses is only partially due to lost businesses – we see closed store fronts all over the city. But a lot of businesses, especially ethnic businesses, don’t obtain businesses licenses at all. Unless the business accepts EBT or sells lottery tickets or must pay sales tax, they often aren’t registered with the state or state at all. It’s a completely underground separate economy, the black market so to speak.

Leaving Soon, just not soon enough
1 year ago

This story is not going to end well for the bond holders or the taxpayers.
Only winners are the pensioners.

Old Joe
1 year ago

We’re gonna need gobs of GOBs!

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