SC

Charleston Tops Fiscally Irresponsible List

Charleston, S.C. and Pomona, California (home of disgraced baseball slugger Mark McGwire) rank atop of a list of “Ten U.S. Cities With Less Than Ten Days Cash On Hand.” According to The Wall Street Journal, the Holy City has zero days cash on hand. According to the Holy City, the paper…

Charleston, S.C. and Pomona, California (home of disgraced baseball slugger Mark McGwire) rank atop of a list of “Ten U.S. Cities With Less Than Ten Days Cash On Hand.”

According to The Wall Street Journal, the Holy City has zero days cash on hand. According to the Holy City, the paper is full of it.

Specifically, the city says the WSJ report neglected to take into account that the city’s fiscal year matches the calendar year – and as a result its analysis “does not reflect the $43.5 million of consolidated cash on hand on December 31, 2012 that was available to pay operating expenses.”

That may be true, but The Wall Street Journal report – prepared in the aftermath of Detroit’s bankruptcy – provides a frightening look at the piss poor state of municipal finances in America.

The biggest problem? Exorbitant pension benefits … and the massive unfunded liabilities they impose on local governments. According to a 2010 study, the total unfunded liability of city and county pension funds in America was $574 billion.

 

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40 comments

vicupstate October 30, 2013 at 9:32 am

Charleston has a triple A rating. WSJ is a joke. Btw, I thought FITS didn’t like local governments hoarding cash.

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Frank Pytel October 30, 2013 at 9:35 am

I don’t think $5 would be hording? :)

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vicupstate October 30, 2013 at 10:32 am

I guess you missed the part about 43 million.

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Frank Pytel October 30, 2013 at 10:48 am

Nope. Probably doesn’t exist. #gubmint #lies. There lips are moving

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CNSYD October 30, 2013 at 11:19 am

Your spelling is showing.

The Colonel October 31, 2013 at 7:16 am

Actually, the whole “they’re, their, there” thing is gramar or usage “issue”, not a spelling “issue”. Unless of course you think he meant “hair or heir”

CNSYD November 1, 2013 at 2:18 pm

I was trying to keep on a level that he would hopefully understand. Those who live by spell check die by spell check.

Go home Yankee! October 30, 2013 at 9:44 am

I’m very surprised that the the South’s suburb of NYC is over spending. At least the schools are nice.

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CNSYD October 30, 2013 at 10:30 am

Sic Willie needs to explain the connection between Pomona’s finances and the home of Mark McGwire. What possible relevance is there? Greenville, SC was the home of the late “Black Sox” player Shoeless Joe Jackson. Did that affect the city’s finances?

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tomstickler October 30, 2013 at 10:44 am

Maybe the only thing Sic Willie knows about Pomona is Mark McGwire. Or cares about, maybe.

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dsmith October 30, 2013 at 1:26 pm

Damn, with the local taxes a tourist pays for the privilege of sleeping and dining/ drinking in Charleston, the city should have surplus out the kazoo.

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vicupstate October 30, 2013 at 8:45 pm

It does.
It has $120 million in total reserves across all accounts. That is why is has a long-time Triple A credit rating from Moody’s and S&P. Except for Greenville, it is the only SC city to have one from either agency.
The so-called journalist at WSJ must have went to the FITS school of Journalism. There story is totally bogus.

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nitrat October 31, 2013 at 9:42 am

Remember, Sic learned about numbers at the knee of Mark Sanford.
In that rarefied world, the numbers you take in and the numbers you put out are profoundly manipulated, every step of the way, to bring about the desired results.
Whether those numbers are true or false is irrelevant to people like them.

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ELCID October 31, 2013 at 11:47 am

The Wall Street Journal has been destroyed by its new owner: Rupert Murdock. The Australian Liar, soon to have arrest warrants out on him for wire tapping in Britain. The WSJ is now just Fox news in print! Just a lying scum rag.

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CSA October 31, 2013 at 1:57 pm

liar.

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Philip Branton October 30, 2013 at 1:28 pm

Boomerang 202, 404, 606… WSJ advertisers vs Post and Courier advertisers…campaign donation streams to Riley (D) vs. Graham (R) vs MACE “bettors”. Post and Courier Square developers vs Times Square “rock-a-fellas”

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NSA Knows Me October 30, 2013 at 3:58 pm

Charleston looks like shit, smells like shit, and it is shit. Its a fucked up and very expensive place to live anymore. Full of transplants from all over the USA, it is not a FRIENDLY place anymore. So when you say “South Carolina Drivers” or “South Carolina Voters” or “South Carolina Is Fucked Up”, think TRANSPLANTS from other states who have polluted the state.

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CNSYD October 30, 2013 at 4:13 pm

How does it compare to the screen door to Hell (aka Columbia, SC)?

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Squishy123 October 31, 2013 at 7:45 pm

I think the only difference is in Columbia you have blacks who were smart enough to leave where their great, great, great, great grandpappies were sold.

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Godslayer October 30, 2013 at 5:15 pm

It was already polluted by White Trash when they got there.
Q: Why does New Jersey have so much toxic waste while S.C. has so much ignorant, inbred White Trash?
A. Because Jersey got first choice!

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Holy City Sinner October 31, 2013 at 6:36 am

Thats funny Mr. Godslayer

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dwb619 November 1, 2013 at 8:39 pm

I would assume you are referring to the “half backs”?

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Squishy123 October 30, 2013 at 5:43 pm

Is this the same Charleston that’s the best city in the country? Except for having to drive through slums from every direction to get to it, it’s not a bad tourist trap.

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CNSYD October 30, 2013 at 6:08 pm

check out what one of those “slums” would set you back to buy it.

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Squishy123 October 31, 2013 at 7:43 pm

So North Charleston and the slum just south of there between North Charleston and the tourist trap section is pricey? You know the area, where you look down on the vacant buildings and the parking lots full of black people drinking out of paper bags. Those people sure put on a good front, I thought they were all poor.

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CNSYD November 1, 2013 at 11:33 am

News Flash! North Charleston is not Charleston. Start at Mt. Pleasant St and check out real estate prices all the way to the Battery.

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Squishy123 November 1, 2013 at 5:37 pm

That’s like saying Forrest Acres or Rosewood aren’t Columbia.

CNSYD November 1, 2013 at 6:15 pm

Maybe for the screen door to Hell, but not for Charleston. Charleston is Charleston. North Charleston is North Charleston. Mount Pleasant is Mount Pleasant. Different municipal governments. different municipal police forces, different fire departments, etc.

Squishy123 November 1, 2013 at 7:22 pm

Okay you just go ahead and play Southern blue-blood down in Charleston as if it were 1883. You may think Charleston is the place to be, but I’ve been there enough to realize the area you’re talking about is just a big tourist trap. Enjoy your traffic jams and narrow. flood prone, one-way streets.

And Columbia isn’t much to talk about, all we can state is we aren’t Augusta.

SCBlues October 30, 2013 at 8:27 pm

Stay home and be miserable, loser . . .I doubt Charleston wants you or needs you.

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Squishy123 October 31, 2013 at 7:42 pm

Awww, you’re still upset because you used the race card in another thread and basically got it shoved back up your ass by everyone who responded.

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Plain Truth October 30, 2013 at 9:02 pm

The City of Charleston is in a never ending crime wave. Its bad down there.

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CNSYD October 30, 2013 at 9:53 pm

Five Points is in Charleston?

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euwe max October 30, 2013 at 9:27 pm

God’s punishment for too many Republicans, and not enough Tea Partiers,

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Matt October 30, 2013 at 9:51 pm

Surprised Charleston isn’t rolling in the money with all the yuppy tourist who regularly spends gobs of money there!

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Squishy123 October 31, 2013 at 7:46 pm

Not surprising when you have an elf for mayor who hands out money to every liberal group who holds their hands out.

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nitrat October 31, 2013 at 9:14 am

“Exorbitant pension benefits”

Does Charleston have an independent pension plan or does it participate in the state employees plan?

The people with “Exorbitant pension benefits” in SC are the legislators, judges and solicitors.
No one has bothered to look into what special deals may exist for state agency heads and elected officials. I would be happily surprised to learn that if they serve less than the vesting period, they get nothing.

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CorruptionInColumbia October 31, 2013 at 10:59 am

I thought the “Strong Mayor” concept was working just great under professional, career politician Joe Riley. You mean it (and Riley) may not be all they are cracked up to be after all? Oh noes, say it isn’t so!!!!!!

But, but, but… Columbia just has to have a strong mayor so crooked Benjamin and his machine (to include the Lott family) can have more power. Why don’t we just go on and crown Benjamin as King so he isn’t bothered with having to run for the next thirty or forty years while he makes things right for Columbia?

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Jackie Chiles November 1, 2013 at 12:32 pm

Columbia’s weak mayor system resulted in it’s being a POS town for years while Charleston and Greenville continue to grow exponentially.

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Jackie Chiles November 1, 2013 at 12:31 pm

Isn’t it really just an accounting issue where Charleston keeps its books differently?

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