KEEGAN: GASB government pension message not even false

By   /  October 18, 2012  /  Commentary  /  No Comments

Frank Keegan

By Frank Keegan | State Budget Solutions
No matter what the Government Accounting Standards Board says or how grossly state and local politicians pervert new guidelines to continue looting workers’ pension funds, reality will triumph when the real reckoning comes.
Just ask the National Association of Bond Lawyers, municipal bond rating agencies and actuaries who do the [...]

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NM: Moody’s says bogus audit not to affect 2 bonds

By   /  July 27, 2012  /  New Mexico, News, State Budgets, State Government  /  Comments Off

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By Rob Nikolewski | Capitol Report New Mexico
SANTA FE — Given the uncertainty caused by the fraudulent internal audit at the New Mexico Finance Authority, there’s been plenty of anxiety about whether Wall Street ratings agencies such as Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s might downgrade the state’s credit ratings.
New Mexico received a measure of good [...]

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NM: Authority’s troubles put projects in limbo

By   /  July 27, 2012  /  Accountability, Fraud, New Mexico, News, State Budgets, State Government  /  Comments Off

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By Rob Nikolewski | Capitol Report New Mexico
SANTA FE — The New Mexico Finance Authority moved forward in its investigation into a bogus internal audit and even approved a number of bond projects in a handful of communities Thursday, but a $27.2 million infrastructure project in Albuquerque is in limbo.
Board members for the NMFA, trying [...]

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NM: Finance authority treading water on audit probe

By   /  July 19, 2012  /  Accountability, Education, Finances, Fraud, New Mexico, News, State Budgets, State Government  /  No Comments

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By Rob Nikolewski | Capitol Report New Mexico
SANTA FE — Fears of a debt rating downgrade prompted the New Mexico Finance Authority board to cancel a contract with third-party investigators who were supposed to look into a 2011 fraudulent audit.
State Auditor Hector Balderas and Daniel Tanaka, director of the state’s Securities Division, said they were [...]

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KEEGAN: Public pension infinite amortization puts taxpayers in debt forever

By   /  July 12, 2012  /  Commentary  /  No Comments

Frank Keegan

By Frank Keegan | State Budget Solutions
Anybody who doubts whether public pensions can push state and local governments beyond a fiscal event horizon into a black hole of perpetual debt should read an auditor’s note in Montana’s latest annual report: “The Unfunded Actuarial Accrued Liability amortization period is infinite … .”
Infinite?
No wonder folks sounded worried [...]

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