Editor,
As the official non-mayor of Carmel, I joined with many other Carmelons in noting: One financial rating firm deflated the Performing Arts Center lease revenue bonds from Aa3 to Aa1 (whatever that is).
Last year, another beat them to the punch by relegating our long-term rating from AA-plus to AA and a set of 2016 bonds from A-plus to A, saying we are “vulnerable to unanticipated economic or operating swings.”
The Department of Local Finance tallies $1.2 billion in total debt – $12,000 for every Carmelist man, woman and child.
The spurious argument has been peddled round about (pun) that, “Not to worry. That money will be repaid by businesses and corporations.”
As non-mayor, I was required to take a logic course back in school. And, a course or three in economics.
I can say with some authority that there is nobody named Businesses or Corporations. These are just collections of people – many of them Carmelaks like you and me. Their money is our money they earned (new concept in government circle) by providing goods and services to other people.
They are just like those artistes who conned us out of $850,000 for the Beacon Bloom ($353,000), the Collision of Unicycles ($80,000) and the Wide World of Lego Sports ($497,000) sculptures.
Others with business insight predict more than 8,000 retail stores will close this year in America, joining Marsh’s and other former occupants of our spacious retail space to which bond money is scheduled to add.
It’s one thing to build the Mausoleum of Music that sits empty 85 percent of the time. It’s quite another to saddle our children with $12,000 apiece when their allowances barely cover M&M expenditures now.
Bill Shaffer, Carmel
