Many professionals with experience with municipalities urged caution, however. Foremost among them was Bill Brandt, who serves as President and CEO of Development Specialists, Inc. and also heads the Illinois Finance Authority, which oversees billions of dollars in loans and investments for businesses, local governments, and nonprofit organizations. “I know it is not going to happen,” he said mid-year, and he was right. Certainly, we saw some filings, most recent among them the $4 billion Chapter 9 filed in November by Jefferson County, Alabama, which is the largest municipal bankruptcy in American history. But Jefferson County was only the fourth municipal entity to declare bankruptcy in 2011, with Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Central Falls, Rhode Island, and Boise County, Idaho, coming before. “In the end, said Brandt, there weren’t a lot of Chapter 9s because many states do not allow them to occur, and “they’re never a decent substitute for political will.” To read the full Turnarounds and Workouts article click here.
