The BBC World Service’s Business Daily decided to take a look at Jefferson County’s sewer debt situation as an example of the issue of potential municipal and county level bankruptcy.
One statement of note during yesterday’s interview with Jefferson County Commission president David Carrington when asked if the county has come close to bankruptcy(at 5:23 in):
I guess, if you look at $3.2 billion – or $4.2 billion with the debt that we can’t afford to pay, I have to be in all sincerity that we are bankrupt, right now. We can’t pay our bills. We’re just not in bankruptcy. We’re going to have to restructure our debt or we will be in bankruptcy.”
Times are already tight at the County Commission as Carrington’s chief of staff, Pascal Caputo, made his first drive to Montgomery to essentially serve as the county’s lobbyist during the legislative session. ABC 33/40 reported that the daily trips are a result of the $129,000 contract for a county lobbyist being eliminated.
