Vallejo may file for bankruptcy!

[thrillgeek]

I'm just curious to hear what kind of an impact this will have on Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. They're bankrupt mainly because of the over paid fire fighters but they still might cut the budget for Discovery Kingdom. I don't know. What are your thoughts?

 

http://www.ktvu.com/news/15419908/detail.html

[RIP Psyclone]

Vallejo has never quite recovered from the Zodiac killer.

[Airtime&Gravity]

Vallejo sold their share of Discovery Kingdom to Six Flags last year, so this will not affect the park.

[USCoaster]

^ I guess the sale of the land to Six Flags is what kept Vallejo from declaring bankruptcy last year.

[Jew]

One of the residents probably robbed the cities clerk at gunpoint.

 

Seriously though...It's not a good area. Doesn't seem like a city with a big tax base. SFMW probably accounts for a huge share of the cities revenue.

[Rastuso]

Which is why the only way they can be bankrupt is from massive corruption in the local government. With all the salary taxes and sales taxes that the park gives the city, there is no fricken way they can be bankrupt.

 

Unless all that awesome liberal socialism isn't working so well. BUt, that's just crazy talk. Everyone knows socialism always succeeds. Free everything for everybody!!!

 

-R

[ginzo]

Which is why the only way they can be bankrupt is from massive corruption in the local government. With all the salary taxes and sales taxes that the park gives the city, there is no fricken way they can be bankrupt.

 

Unless all that awesome liberal socialism isn't working so well. BUt, that's just crazy talk. Everyone knows socialism always succeeds. Free everything for everybody!!!

 

According to that article, 80% of the budget goes to police and firefighters. Doesn't sound like big government social programs are their problem. They're just getting hit hard by the economic downturn, as many municipalities are.

[thrillgeek]

Vallejo sold their share of Discovery Kingdom to Six Flags last year, so this will not affect the park.

My bad, I forgot about that

[Rastuso]

^^ And if most cities can pay for police and firefighters without a themepark that brings in probably $100 MM in revenue a year, and employs hundreds of people, and has their own security force, I think Vallejo should be able to squeak by. They should be more economically stable than most CA cities.

 

It's either corruption or uncontrolled spending.

 

-R

[jamesdillaman]

^ Many cities around the country are in the same situation. Every municipality it seems in the Cincinnati area has levies on the ballot this March to raise taxes supporting police, fire, the zoo, local schools, etc. It's not an isolated problem.

 

-James Dillaman

[Rastuso]

And my whole point is that a city with an enormous taxable revenue stream from a theme park should be the last city with problems, not the first.

 

Most cities have no desire for fiscal responsibility, they simply raise more taxes by getting stupid voters to approve levies and bonds. Vallejo seems to be a posterchild for this problem. Of course, California, and especially San Francisco is simply reaping what they sow. With all the high tech companies and enormous tax revenue from their income and ridiculous property values bringing in huge property taxes, the entire San Francisco area should be sitting on a pile of money. Instead, they've enacted insane social policies, and have wasted every dime of what should be their excess income.

 

I have no sympathy for California governments, especially in the SF area. But, as this thread shows, plenty of people will believe their lies and assume they're doing everything right, but just honestly need more money.

 

-R

[ginzo]

I have no sympathy for California governments, especially in the SF area. But, as this thread shows, plenty of people will believe their lies and assume they're doing everything right, but just honestly need more money.

 

Perhaps you should provide some sort of evidence to back these claims. If it's so obvious, the job should be easy.

[jamesdillaman]

^ Joe, i just like the part when he infers that Cincinnati has no large sources of taxable incomes. I bet more people each year visit the Cincinnati Zoo than visit SFDK.

 

-James Dillaman

[Rastuso]

You're comparing greater Cincinnati to Vallejo? I think you'd have to compare Mason, OH to Vallejo. Or to compare two Cinti locales, it'd be like if Mason was having fiscal problems before Finneytown. Why do you think towns fight so hard to get companies to build manufacturing plants there? It's an enormous financial boon, especially in states where there are citie income taxes, like Cincinnati. The little town where the plant I worked at in Cinti always had a brand new fleet of cars, and a brand new government building, even though it was a lower income area. They had million of dollars of salaries to tax at the plant. And we had our own fire truck and security.

 

You really think cities have to raise taxes because they can't afford to pay their police and firemen? You're a complete rube. That's always what they say, because more people will be sympathetic to that as opposed to having to raise taxes to pay more welfare benefits.

 

Sorta like how lottery funds were for schools. Too bad most states then dropped school funding from the general funds, used that money for social programs, and then said the schools still need more money.

 

I guess it's amazing how states used to survive on 4% sales tax. And that was before computers greatly reduced the manpower needed to do most government jobs.

 

Please learn basic economics before you vote this Fall.

 

-R

[jamesdillaman]

^I'm taking econmics as a business major. But it's your opinion that Police and Fire and more of a need than welfare. That's all we're saying. If you want to view providing general needs for children who have no fault but to have been born under poverty as socialism, fair enough, but we're just saying this isn't just Vallejo. It isn't the first city to go bankrupt, it won't be the last. Here's a qoute from the AP about Vallejo: Read the entire thing before jumping to conclusions:

 

"We know that individuals and corporations can declare bankruptcy, but entire cities?

 

That is exactly what officials in Vallejo, Calif., are contemplating. And they are not alone. There's a long and sad history of municipalities declaring bankruptcy. Here's a look at how these places got into hot water—and what life is like for residents of a bankrupt town.

 

Why do cities and towns declare bankruptcy?

 

For the same reason that individuals and corporations do. They're broke and can't pay their debts. This might be because of an unexpected expense—say, a costly lawsuit—or a sudden shortfall in revenue, due to falling property values, for instance. Either way, declaring bankruptcy protects cities and towns from their creditors, just as it does for individuals and corporations. (In Vallejo's case, bankruptcy offers another benefit: It would allow the city to renegotiate costly labor contracts with public-safety employees, which reportedly account for about 80 percent of the city's general fund budget.)"

[Meteornotes]

Well, since the city doesn't own the park any more, and since this thread is right on the edge of getting ugly, I believe it's time to close this one.

 

dt