THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 9, 1995 TAG: 9508090013
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 44 lines
It's mystifying that V. Wayne Orton, former Portsmouth city manager who retired in June, didn't inform the council of a drop in the city's bond rating in May. This is information elected officials must have to run their constituents' government properly.
But Orton's gone now; the council has been belatedly informed and the city didn't issue any long-term general-obligation bonds in the interim. Little harm done.
Also, the downgrading from A1 to A by Moody's, one of three firms that rate U.S. cities' credit worthiness, is ``not disastrous,'' to quote acting City Manager Ronald W. Massie. ``The more volatile issue,'' he said, ``is where the market stands when you go out for the bonds.''
So timing will likely be the greater determinant of how Portsmouth taxpayers fare over the next five years as the city assumes an expected $55 million to $60 million in long-term debt.
What's really important is why Moody's did it. An official of the company cited as the main reason Portsmouth's failure to register ``any growth in the tax base in the last five years.'' Other factors that limit Portsmouth's financial flexibility, said the firm's report, are steadily declining sales-tax revenues, high unemployment, shrinking population and a tax rate that's steeper than the regional average.
These indeed are matters the city must address. But Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake and Suffolk, the four communities that surround Porstmouth, also have a stake in how Portsmouth does. For economic viability in each of the cities is essential to the economic viability of the South Hampton Roads whole.
The longer Portsmouth struggles as a partial participant - a bit out of the loop, one might say - the longer the region itself will lag. Officials throughout the area ought to embrace the tax, revenue, development and other strategies needed to create a community that is healthy to the core. by CNB