Over at the Banner, there’s an October 30th mention of a recent New York Times story on how pressures in the sub-prime mortgage market may affect city budgets. The entire article, and the excerpt at the Banner, raise a good deal of worry, predicting that foreclosures on sub-prime mortgages will cause a drop in state and local tax revenue. The article warms that hundreds of millions in tax revenue might be lost nationally.
We have reason to be calm, dire cry notwithstanding: (1) sub-prime mortgages are minority of all mortgages, (2) only a minority of all sub-prime mortgages are at risk, (3) only the tiniest fraction of those sub-prime mortgages could possibly be in Whitewater (the article never mentions Wisconsin), (4) the NYT article cites not actual foreclosures, but a prediction only.
There’s no sound reason for Whitewater to plan based on the article cited at the Banner.