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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: elmatador who wrote (70438)	1/31/2011 4:24:05 PM
From: Bocor	Respond to of 218907

The Securities and Exchange Commission is examining whether officials in the cash-strapped capital city of Harrisburg, Pa., provided enough information to bond investors. "The SEC is trying to determine whether the city has provided the appropriate amount of information to the secondary markets," said Chuck Ardo, spokesman for Mayor Linda Thompson in a statement Monday. "We have supplied much of the information requested and are in the process of assembling more." Ardo said the SEC started inquiring about the city's disclosures in November. He didn't provide additional details. SEC spokesman John Nester declined to comment. The move is the latest example of the SEC's stepping up its role in the municipal bond market. Illinois confirmed last week that the SEC is investigating statements public officials made about the state's underfunded pension fund. New Jersey in August settled an SEC case that accused the state of failing to properly disclose information about its pension funds to investors. The SEC doesn't have the authority to regulate issuers directly, but it requires securities dealers marketing issues of $1 million or more to review and disseminate official statements prepared by issuers for new offerings. Harrisburg, a city of 47,000, has been struggling to deal with mounting fiscal problems. It almost missed a $3.3 million general obligation debt payment in September. A costly project to revamp an incinerator racked up $288 million in debt, and some city officials advocate filing for a rare municipal bankruptcy to deal with that burden, more than four times the city's budget. Meanwhile, consultants have just begun work on a recovery plan under Pennsylvania's oversight program for distressed municipalities. In another sign of its disarray, Harrisburg hasn't yet completed its audit for 2009.