Don’t Blow Smoke Up My @$$!!!!

For those of you in attendance at last night’s City Council meeting, you know that the city is refinancing THREE Bonds

24 Million Needed, Not to exceed 31 Million

3 Million Needed, Not to exceed 6 Million

1.8 Million Needed, Not to exceed 3 Million

The 2 daily newspapers covered the meeting, but only one accurately reported on what happened, but don’t take my word for it read both, and decide who reported what.

Thank you Times Leader for sending a reporter to our council meetings, and Thank you Citizens Voice for sending a warm body.  OK, I know that’s unfair and uncalled for, RIGHT?

Seriously read both articles. 

• Times Leader

• Citizens Voice

It’s as if the Times Leader attended the Wilkes-Barre City Council meeting, and the Voice, well, God knows what meeting they were at.

Councilman George Brown asked if the ordinances could make it clear that the city was not borrowing new money. Said Leighton: “No money from this bond refinancing is going into the general fund.”

• OK so then why not be clear about nearly 29 Million needed, NOT 40 as requested?

City resident Frank Sorick asked that the bond refinancing be given more time for review because the details of the ordinances were not released until a few hours before the meeting. “For that reason alone I would ask that this motion be tabled and go no further until the public has the chance to digest what is being jammed down our throat once again,” he said.

• Why not release the ordinances days prior to the meeting?

Could it have anything to do with the fact that when Lie-A-Ton first took office the city’s overall debt was around $60 Million TOTAL, and today we are close to $110 Million? So what took the city a lifetime to accumulate, Lie-A-Ton doubled in just 10 short years, but hey we have GOOD CREDIT RATING. 

From the comments of the Times Leader, Bill "Danger" Robinson 

FYI: Standard and Poor's an "A" is not the highest rating but rather the third highest. An "A" is deemed "somewhat more likely to be affected by adverse business conditions than are insurers with higher ratings."

Wake Up Wilkes-Barre

Source:

• Wilkes-Barre looking to refinance $40 million in bonds, Mayor Leighton says it will go toward restructuring long-term debt
• W-B officials weigh debt refinancing
• Standard & Poor's Ratings Definitions