Another Liberal City Is About To Go Bankrupt Unless They’re Bailed Out

Yet another liberal city is in major financial trouble. Wall Street Journal has the story of decline and financial distress coming out of Hartford, Connecticut, which says it will soon file for bankruptcy unless the government steps in with cash.

Officials in Hartford told Connecticut’s Democratic Governor Dannel Malloy that they’re going to have to file for bankruptcy in 60 days if they don’t get a bailout from the state government or a motion from the state legislature to increase funding. The city’s deficit is close to $50 million. What is it about a liberal city racking up enormous debt? (Not to mention liberal cities coming up with absolutely ridiculous ways to fight crime).

In the letter to Malloy, signed by various city officials and Hartford’s Democratic Mayor Luke Bronin, the situation was referred to as “the greatest fiscal crisis in our city’s history.”

In the letter to Malloy, signed by various city officials and Hartford’s Democratic Mayor Luke Bronin, the situation was referred to as “the greatest fiscal crisis in our city’s history.”

Malloy’s office said it’s looking into the situation and taking steps to deal with it.

“We continue to hope to have a full budget adopted by October to mitigate the harm and avoid having towns or cities go through reorganization,” his office said.

Malloy is pretty busy with other things, too.

Connecticut’s finances are doing very poorly. It still hasn’t passed a budget for this fiscal year and has a $3.5 billion spending gap. The state is running from an executive order signed by Malloy that cut vital funding to cities and towns across the Keystone state.

Fun times.

Connecticut’s state House plans to vote on the budget by Sept. 14, but the state’s representatives still don’t have an actual plan for how they will bail out the capital city of Hartford. It’s also unknown if they have the votes to pass a bill.

Recently, bankruptcies have rocked the Left Coast. San Bernardino and Stockon, California both went bankrupt in 2012.

Hartford has been hit especially hard by the cost of healthcare and pensions. It owes about $180 million for debt service, health services, pensions and other costs this year. That adds up to half the city’s budget if you don’t count education.

The city also wants the state legislature to make a new committee to deal with arguments with labor unions.

Sounds like exactly the kind of situation a liberal city would get into, doesn’t it?