Although the author points that there many factors that determine ratings are beyond the control of the municipality. The fact is it does have a lot of control, e.g. willingness to curb spending and ability to raise revenues, that are two of the factors agencies scrutinize, along with liabilities i.e., pensions and employee maleficence i.e., police brutality. FYI: Since 1999 the COW has paid out $1,344,000 in WPD related settlements.
Interesting is that the City of Worcester has the equivalent of a C- from S&P, given by the very same credit agency who took bribes for awarding dubious mortgage backed securities stellar ratings. And you know what that got us. Makes one wonder exactly how CM Michael V. O'Brien got straight A's on his report card.
So how does the city's credit rating relate to CM O'Brien's job performance rating from the City Council? Apparently not at all, although his job is to keep the City solvent. Maybe his report card should have reflected the City's credit rating - less than average. Maybe lower, when one considers that the City of Worcester's debt is 2 steps away from a junk rating. The CM’s report card attests to the fact that the City Council's credibility is just as dubious as that of S&P.
Perhaps his grade should have been even lower considering the generous PILOT deals the CM (and his crack legal team) made with the colleges, that included giving away public property to Clark University. And he failed to get Holy Cross and Becker College to cough-up a penny in PILOT, yet they both went on building and acquisition sprees this year – buying residential properties (totaling ca. $1,100,000) and taking them off the tax rolls, with the City losing ca. $20,000 in taxes. Yet he still got straight A's? In the work-a-day world most folks populate, that would be defined as incompetence.
So what will the effect of the low rating on local taxpayers this year? Well, expect your real estate taxes to rise again. It's been reported by the T&G that City Assessor William J. Ford implemented a new system (it’s name no one knows) that will scrutinize every property and bring them into line with state requirements. Bureaucrat code for, squeeze em till they bleed.
As you recall Mr. Ford is the same homeowner who managed a 50% devaluation of his Salisbury St. property. Something no one at City Hall publicly questioned.
Credibility has never been the City of Worcester's strong suit has it?
