[quote=harvey][quote=desmond]
Harvey, They are not making payments for the first 20 years and then:

[bunch of stuff about payments with big number that may sound scary]
[/quote]

So I take it you didn’t do the math.

The stuff you cited is sensationalist crap written by someone who obviously doesn’t understand basic finance. Yeah it’s likely they overextended and are paying higher than market rates, but quotes like “That [first] payment [after 20 years] will be a little more than $30 million, $24 million of which is interest.” is hysteria.

In case you don’t know, on practically every bond in the real world the first payment is mostly interest. There’s nothing unusual about that characteristic of the terms.

If the city’s tax receipts grow only at the rate of inflation, then they would be in trouble in 20 years time, but it is very unlikely that Poway will not grow and see property tax revenue increase at a much higher rate than inflation. Do you really think Poway will not see population growth, property improvements, and have effectively zero real estate appreciation over the next 20 years? That $11 million in tax revenue could easily be 5x bigger in 20 years.

I’m not arguing that this plan is wise, and I agree may not be an example of effective negotiation by the city. But the terms and expectations are not nearly as outrageous as they are being presented.[/quote]

Funny how you think these are reasonable assumptions here, but go off on hysterical tirades when pension funds use the same kind of numbers. (And, no, I don’t think either of them is going to get it.)