Lower Merion Citizens for Responsible Budgeting (CRB)
Resources
- Montco Municipal Millage Rates
- Municipal Bond Yields
- Moody's
- Moody's Economy.com
- Standard & Poors
- Fitch Ratings
- Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA)
- Main Line Life
- Main Line Times
- Voting Record
- Wall Street Journal Online
Articles
- Understanding Reserves
(GFOA PDF) - Tax Debate, Letter to Main
Line Life - Determinants of Credit Quality (GFR PDF)
- Breakdown of Revenue sources
- Where does the money go?
- Do we need six Libraries?
- Why did the 2007 budget increase 5.3%?
Township News Links
Commissioners Comments
Future Links
- Fiscal responsibility
- Citizen commentary
- Information is power
- How do we compare?
Status Quo Tax and Spend Forces Going to Battle
August 5, 2008
Lower Merion not alone in Status Quo opposition.
Explosive growth in Spending driven by Employee Compensation
July 31 , 2008
By Dennis Cauchon - USA Today
State and local governments are on track to spend more than $2 trillion for the first time in 2008 — about 13% of the nation's gross domestic product. A key factor driving higher spending: New employees and higher compensation.
Even California, despite years of budget woes, has continued to add employees. "It's the strangest thing. Government keeps hiring even when times are tough," says Jack Kyser, chief economist at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., a private business group
Lower Merion Financial Forecasts become clearer.
July 22 , 2008
By Cheryl Allison - Mainline Times
Until last year, commissioners received a multi-year financial forecast as part of their budget deliberations, but the projections were not provided to the public. At the urging of Lower Merion Citizens for Responsible Budgeting and several commissioners, however, the board set a new policy calling for the forecast to be included in the budget document. An update on the projections was also to be provided mid-year.
Lower Merion Board Debates Budget Trimming .
July 10 , 2008
By Cheryl Allison - Mainline Times
Anyone who assumed that the second of two budget workshops Lower Merion commissioners had scheduled this summer would be as fact-intensive and low-key as the first one held in May would have been right about that first adjective, but in for a surprise on the second.
Municipal Bonds Caught In Collapse of ARS Market.
July 10, 2008
Massachusetts has filed the first lawsuit involving the collapse of the auction-rate securities market. The suit charges UBS with marketing the securities as “safe, liquid, money market instruments,” when the financial giant allegedly knew they were not. For more, visit: UBS Becomes Poster-Child For ARS Collapse
Eighteen States Plan To Cut Their Spending Below Current Levels.
June 20, 2008
By Amy Merrick- WSJ
State finances, having reached a "turning point" after several strong years, are heading toward what could become a prolonged slump, according to a report by the national associations of governors and state budget officers.
Some Public Pension Funds Feel Pinch of Market Turmoil
June 18, 2008
By Craig Karmin - WSJ
Stock-market turmoil wrought by the credit crunch is on track to push public pension-fund returns into negative territory for the first time in six years, prodding some weaker funds to take steps that could pain future employees.
Inquirer reports on property tax madness
June 14, 2008
By Anthony R. Wood
Inquirer Staff Writer
Largely to meet the growing needs of schools and municipal governments, property-tax collections in Pennsylvania between just 2002 and 2007 ballooned 39 percent, from $10.4 billion to $14.5 billion.
Moody's to Delay Rating Plan
June 13, 2008
By Arron Lucchett i- WSJ
Municipal Bonds to be Comparable with Corporates - Bond-rating firm Moody's Investors Service is overhauling paln to update its municipal-bond ratings, which could make way for a significant number of upgrades for municipal bons.s
Lower Merion Township Plans Big for Capital Improvements
April 28 , 2008
Lower Merion's Capital Improvements for 2008 include $22 million for Ardmore, with $11.5 million in new spending
2008 CIP Funding Sources
Capital Projects |
Sanitary Sewer |
Total Capital |
|
2008 PROJECTS |
$55,585,000 |
$3,380,000 |
$58,965,000 |
SOURCE OF FUNDS: |
|||
Grants, reimbursements, other |
40,311,000 |
1,615,000 |
41,926,000 |
Existing Fund Balance |
4,567,508 |
1,000,000 |
5,567,508 |
2008 Bond Issue |
10,706,492 |
765,000 |
11,471,492 |
TOTAL |
$55,585,000 |
$3,380,000 |
$58,965,000 |
Read Complete township article at http://www.lowermerion.org/Index.aspx?page=492
Rising Property Taxes: What You Can Do to Lower Yours
April 25 , 2008
Economic Slowdown By CONOR DOUGHERTY
Grappling with rising expenses and struggling to make ends meet, local governments – who rely heavily on property taxes for funding — are raising property tax rates, provoking anger and concern among homeowners faced with deteriorating home prices, increasing inflation and a likely recession, writes Conor Dougherty in today’s Journal.
Read complete article at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120900800448540861.html
Rising Proberty Taxes Fill gaps, Pinch Homeowners
April 25 , 2008
Pain Is Worsened
By Housing Slump,
Economic Slowdown By CONOR DOUGHERTY
Faced with revenue shortfalls, local governments across the U.S. are raising property-tax rates, angering homeowners already hit by the housing slump and economic slowdown.
Read complete article at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120900800448540861.html
Steep declines in home prices continues in February
April 24 , 2008
Case-Shiller index
The Standard & Poor's/Case-Schiller index shows a drop of 12.7% in February from a year earlier.
The Brighter Side of Housing
April 24 , 2008
Amid Downturn,
'Unaffordable'
Is Within Reach By JAMES R. HAGERTY - WSJ
And now for the heartwarming side of the housing bust: It's helping some people buy homes that they couldn't afford a couple of years ago.
Read complete article at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120900800448540861.html
Bond Buyers Tug Muni Yeilds Back to Earth
April 19 , 2008
By TOM LAURICELLA - WSJ
Municipal-bond yields, which soared this winter as hedge funds dumped the bonds, have finally begun coming down
Read complete article at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120900800448540861.html
Investors criticize agencies over rating systems
April 17 , 2008
Renée Schultes, Financial News Online
An analysis of default rates shows that AAA-rated municipal bonds have little in common with an AAA-rated corporate, or structured credit, in terms of their default rates.
Read complete article at http://www.financialnews-us.com/?page=ushome&contentid=2450361861
Moody's Plans new Muni System
March 13 , 2008
By Kevin Drawbaugh and Lisa Lambert, Reuters
WASHINGTON -- Moody's Investors Service plans to rate municipal debt on the same scale used to grade corporate bonds if such treatment is requested by a government issuer, a Moody's executive told a House committee Wednesday.
State treasurers and municipal bond issuers have argued that billions of dollars in interest and insurance costs could be saved by city and state governments if bond rating firms used a unified rating system for municipal and corporate debt.
.
Read complete article at http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-muni13mar13,1,7698723.story
New Jersey Police Take Heat For Escalating Salaries
February 31 , 2008
ADRIENNE LU and DAVE SHEINGOLD
Bergen Record
If a $100,000 salary is a benchmark for a comfortable living, then Fort Lee's Borough Hall is the place to work.
The number of municipal employees drawing six-figure paychecks in Fort Lee has jumped from 36 to 60 in the past two years, boosting workers' living standards while straining taxpayer wallets.
State, local government workers see pay gains
February 1, 2008
By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY State and local government workers are enjoying major gains in compensation, pushing the value of their average wages and benefits far ahead of private workers, a USA TODAY analysis of federal data shows.
The gap is widening every year, rising by an average $1.02 an hour last year and $2.45 an hour over the past three years. The better pay and benefits for public employees come as private-sector workers face stagnant wages and rising unemployment.
Read complete article at http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-02-01-civil-servants_N.htm
Property Tax - Frustration Builds
By Amy Merrick
December 18, 2007
Wall Street Journal -
Falling home values and rising property taxes in many parts of the country are generating the loudest complaints about property levies since the 1970s, forcing state and local officials to address the outcry even as the housing-market slump eats into many sources of their revenue.
Indiana residents held public protests this summer against a surge in property taxes and acted on their frustration by ousting the mayor of Indianapolis. Florida voters will decide next month whether to adopt massive property-tax cuts, in a debate that has pitted part-time residents against full-time Floridians.
In California, thousands of homeowners are having their assessments reduced under a decades-old state law, and lower tax revenue due to the weaker housing market is likely to force an emergency budget session.
Falling.......
Read complete article at The Wall Street Journal Online
The (Tax) War Between the States
December 10, 2007
By Arthur Laffer and Stephen Moore
Wall Street Journal - A record eight million Americans moved from one state to another last year. Where is everyone going and why? The answer has little to do with climate: California has arguably the nicest climate of any state in the nation---yet in this decade more Americans have left the Gloden State than entered it. Migration patterns instead reveal which states have the most dynamic and desirable economies, and which are"has-been states. The winers in this contest........
Read complete article at The Wall Street Journal Online
States Finances are Feeling the Pinch
December 5, 2007
Wall Street Journal - A sluggish economy and housing-mareket woes are taking a toll on state government coffers-and that is expected to mean further slowing in spending programs..........
Read complete article at The Wall Street Journal Online
Triple-A Ratings Grade on a Curve, Making It Difficult to Assess Risk
October 6, 2007
Wall Street Journal - When it comes to a bond ratings, all triple-A grades aren't created equal. That's one reason debt-rating companies such as Standard & Poor's, Moody's Investors service and Fitch Ratings have met such criticism over their role in the subprime-mortgage crisis.
Read complete article at The Wall Street Journal Online
Board of Commissioners Acknowledges CRB Request for Documents
September 5, 2007
In the Finance Committee Meeting on Sept. 5, Commissioner Brown acknowledged that the Township had received a request from CRB to review the five-year financial projections which staff periodically provides to the Board of Commissioners. Without mentioning that Township Staff had initially denied the request, Commissioner Brown stated that the matter was one for the Board of Commissioners to decide as a matter of public policy and that a number of Commissioners had requested additional time to review the question. As a result, the matter has been put on the
public agenda for September 19, 2007. The Finance Committee is currently scheduled to meet shortly before 8:00 pm. on September 19.