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Health & Fitness

BLOG: And By the Way, the Ship is Sinking

Compton officials only report waste, fraud, and fiscal abuse after the shipwreck. Is there a lesson here for West Hollywood?

The City of Compton is beyond broke and will almost surely be forced to seek bankruptcy protection in the very near future. Don't miss the stories that describe this new development, because they perfectly capture the condition of California's governments. They also tell a pretty clear story about the state of local journalism.

On July 17, Compton's city treasurer appeared at a city council meeting to say that, um, hey, listen, just a little heads up: "I have $3 million in the bank and $5 million in warrants due in the next 10 to 12 days."

The first clear public warning that Compton was in deep trouble was a statement that the city would be insolvent in a week or so. Here's the third paragraph of the story that I've linked to above:

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"Compton, which has an accumulated $43 million deficit and has depleted what had been a $22 million reserve, will run out of cash to make its payroll on September 1 at its current cash consumption rate, city comptroller Steven Ajobiewe told the city council during a July 17 meeting."

Remember how the Los Angeles Times and the local TV news programs were urgently sounding the alarm as Compton blasted through $22 million in reserves and destroyed its future? You don't, because they didn't.

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Everything's fine, everything's fine, everything's fine, everything's fine, bam, you're dead.

The mayor of Compton now says that he has reported allegations of "waste, fraud, and abuse" to state and county officials. Just in time, too – it's a little like sitting on the bridge of the Costa Concordia and typing up an email warning about unsafe helmsmanship, but waiting to click "send" until the divers are searching the wreck for bodies.

The same things have happened in San Bernardino, where city officials announced that the city is insolvent, and then said, for the first time, that they've been misreporting their finances for the last fifteen years.

In a state that decided to manage a budget deficit growing toward $20 billion by voting to sell a few billion dollars in bonds to pay for a high-speed rail line, more fiscal disaster is coming. Incredibly, it will be a surprise every time.

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