newjerseynewsroom.com

BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

New Jersey has three cities that made a list from 24/7 Wall Street, but it’s not a good one. Of the nine worst credit ratings among cities in the United States, which doesn’t include recently bankrupt Harrisburg, Pa., Moody’s has given three of them to New Jersey cities.

According to Yahoo News, Camden checks in at number nine on the list. Camden earned $181,257,000 in revenue in 2009, but was in debt for $103,284,000. Moody's points out that Camden is hurt because more than half of its real estate is tax-exempt.

MSNBC reports that No. 6, Salem, earned $7,059,000 in revenue in 2009 while owing $10,098,000. Salem guaranteed bonds to finance a downtown office building, with the idea of paying for them by leasing office space. But construction delays caused lease payments delays, causing the town to take funds from its debt service reserve too many times.

According to Yahoo Finance, Harrison comes in at No. 4. Their 2009 revenue was $32,763,000, and its debt for the year was $92,613,000. Harrison opened its $200 million Red Bull Arena in March 2010. The building cost the city $39 million but has not lived up to expectations. The city, populated by 13,620, plans to trim expenses by cutting back some police officers and firefighters.

Of the 7,800 bonds in the U.S. from state or local governments, only 25 are currently junk-bonds, rated by Moody's Ba1 or lower. Camden’s rating is Ba2, Harrison and Salem’s are Ba3.

The full list includes:

1. Central Falls, R.I.

2. Pontiac, Mich.

3. Jefferson County, Ala.

4. Harrison, N.J.

5. Detroit, Mich.

6. Salem, N.J.

7. Riverdale, Ill.

8. Strafford County, N.H.

9. Camden, N.J.

Scott Rothbort, Professor of Finance at Seton Hall University, told New Jersey 101.5 FM that towns could help themselves by merging and sharing services. He said, “New Jersey has too many individual political units within the state and I think that is something that will probably come back to haunt New Jersey."