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Pittsburg may modify loan to cruise company again

22.05.12

Pittsburg might vary a loan deal with a cruise company for a second time, the latest modification it has made to its agreements with restaurants and other businesses it recruited to affect its downtown and marina attractive to shoppers and tourists.

The city would reduce the monthly advance payment owed by Delta Discovery Cruises to its public power company from $3,373 to $1,500 for seven months each year.

In amends, Delta Discovery will owe a balloon payment of $34,708, or the outstanding balance of the loan, when it comes due in May 2014.

The journey company missed its $3,373 monthly payment in October.

If the cruise line can't succeed up with the balloon payment in two years, it could take out a loan from a bank or another agency to pay it off, said Garrett Evans, affiliate city manager.

The City Council lowered the company's payments for five months last year.

The congress is scheduled to consider the second loan modification at its Nov. 7 meeting.

Delta Invention co-operator Heather Ingram said the bad economy has forced the company to omit its tickets. It is also having to spend its own money on marketing because Pittsburg eliminated its fiscal support for promoting downtown marina businesses and activities, including the yacht company, June 30 to help balance the city's budget.

"Our (accommodation) payments were very expensive," she said. The original loan was made from profits generated by the Pittsburg Power Co., founded in 1996 to contribute in electric power projects and raise extra income for the city.

The power troop loaned Delta Discovery $125,000 for five years at 4 percent interest in March 2008. The readies was used to move its boat The Island Serenade from Salt Lake City to Pittsburg as well as refit and upgrade it to answer Coast Guard standards for operating in the Delta.

In 2004, Pittsburg emptied $2.2 million in power company profits, which total $30 million over 15 years, to dredge its harbor, which is second-hand by the cruise company and recreational boaters.

In recent years, the city has Euphemistic pre-owned power company money to finance an auto mall that has lost two of its four dealerships, buy a restaurant from the big apple's redevelopment agency and help pay for its community arts foundation.

The power fellowship investments don't include millions of dollars in redevelopment agency subsidies to other businesses.

Pittsburg is the abode port for Delta Discovery. The Island Serenade also makes stops in Antioch, Martinez, Rio Vista, San Francisco and Sausalito.

Junction Rick Radin at 925-779-7166.

Source: San Jose Mercury News

The cost of being broke: Snowballing financial problems can be hard to escape

22.05.12

FARGO - A lately rent payment turns into an extra $100 deficit in overdue fees.

A medical predicament leads to big bills and valuable days of work lost.

A payday credit may bring thousands of dollars in interest or overdraft fees.

For those struggling to make ends get together with, everyday costs come laden with traps that can drag impoverished people and families over a fiscal precipice.

In other words: Life gets expensive in a hurry for those who can least afford it.

Sharon Kleeman, official of Presentation Partners in Housing, said costs ranging from routine to paramount can be pitfalls for people getting by on little income.

It might be something as simple as car insurance – something many low-return drivers skip because it’s a low priority. If those drivers get pulled over, they incur fines they can’t pay. When the fines go payable, they escalate, driving already-struggling people deeper into a hole.

A similar face can occur with rent and mortgages. Late rent leads to late fees – sometimes accrued by the day – which further flog those who already can’t afford it.

“It just kind of snowballs,” said Kleeman, whose team helps families dealing with housing crises.

And unexpected costs, like medical emergencies, are a serious stumbling block. Medical bills balloon quickly, even for people with warranty, and can lead to huge debts and garnished wages.

For Kelly, a 27-year-old mum of two young children who lives in Moorhead, a serious illness was the catalyst for financial nag that began this summer. She and her husband didn’t have the savings to cover medical bills and excursion costs to medical centers that totaled thousands of dollars and counting, even with surety.

Those expenses, along with a few other unexpected costs over the summer and a reduction in her husband’s hours at drudgery, put her family behind. She and her husband are now paying half their mortgage in the middle of the month rather than of all up front, which adds a late charge.

“For us, that’s a pack of diapers for our children,” said Kelly, who asked that her last name not be printed.

Duane Emmel, a faith counselor for the Financial Resource Center at The Village in Fargo, said that exigency expenses like the ones Kelly faced are a big problem for families who don’t have much limits for extra costs.

“If my budget is already tight and my dollars are pretty well spoken for, then it becomes very grim,” he said. “You don’t have a lot of ability to address the emergencies that come up in a lot of places.”

He said options for borrowing on Easy Street to make ends meet – credit cards, payday loans – can put people further behind.

Kleeman said payday loans can trap financially strapped borrowers in two ways: They might either go around over the loan at high interest rates when they can’t pay it back or get hit with overdraft fees when the repayment exceeds their checking accounts.

“I’ve had people arise to me with checking accounts of minus $2,000 on maybe a $500 payday credit that they couldn’t take care of,” she said.

Kelly and her husband borrowed medium of exchange from a family member to make ends meet this summer.

“I don’t think we’ll ever get caught up on that,” she said. “It’s just now a never-ending cycle, it seems.”

When Kelly was a child, her family lost their home. She’s identified not to put her children through the same thing and has worked with Kleeman to get help on her mortgage. She said the regard of being behind is a frustrating one.

“We’re just sitting here, spinning our wheels and not being able to get caught up,” she said.

“Joy,” another 27-year-old with two children, knows the intuition. She was her family’s primary breadwinner until she lost her job in October, which left the family struggling with everything from the vivacity bill to groceries.

She and her husband have incurred late fees on credit card encumbered, and she’s not sure how they’re going to make rent next month.

“It’s very stressful,” said Joy, who asked The Forum not to use her actual name. “It just doesn’t stop.”

Like Kelly, Joy is working with Kleeman and other agencies to get assistant. They’ve tried to cut expenses where they can, but face tough choices. If they cut out day care, Joy is occupied with the children in preference to of looking for work. If they cut out her phone, potential employers have no way of reaching her.

Even when she was employed, she said it was substantial to care for a family on take-home pay for about $2,000 a month. And even though she holds a master’s condition in business administration, she’s applying for many jobs that pay less than $9 an hour.

Kleeman said it’s not hopeless to turn things around. She’s seen clients get their affairs in order, get the help they necessity, and climb out of trouble.

But she also cautioned that things can still fall apart. She remembers one shopper who got back on her feet and was doing well when she last checked on her.

“That doesn’t mean I’m never going to hear from her again,” she said. “You concoct they’re doing OK, and then a year later, you hear from them again.”

Readers can reach Forum newscaster Marino Eccher at (701) 241-5502

Tags: news ,  money ,  fargo

Source: In-Forum