One BILLION Dollars!

In his latest performance audit of the City budget, Mark Funkhauser reported that at the end of 2005, projected principal and interest payments on our outstanding tax-supported debt had reached about $2.3 billion. That's an increase of about $1 billion from the year before. That's BILLION with a "B"! Funkhauser goes on to say that adopting recommended debt policies is prudent. What's the City's current debt policy? We don't have one! Couple that with an underfunded pension plan, deferred capital maintenance and $126 million in commitments the city has made but has not funded and it's easy to see there hasn't been much fiscal responsibility in our leadership the last few years.