March 2008
The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader, March 19, 2008:
Reported that both Jefferson County Treasurer Judi Morris and Auditor Donna Eldridge endorsed [Allan] Martin. “Martin, who is currently chief deputy treasurer for State Treasurer Mike Murphy, said Murphy, a Democrat, is endorsing Martin, a Republican. ‘I’ve never made a partisan decision,’ Martin said of his 20 years in office.”
September 2005
National news stories are highlighting the troubles with Jefferson County Alabama sewer debt, including its April 2008 S&P downgrade to junk status. As early as September 2005 an award-winning Bloomberg Markets article, “The Banks that Fleeced Alabama,” traced the trouble back to a failure to use competitive bidding that led to overpaying banks $60 million compared to the national average:
“In the $2 trillion municipal bond market, where taxpayers rarely have any idea whether they got the least expensive financing for everything from buses to road work, Jefferson County is an example of what can go wrong for borrowers across the U.S. who avoid competitive bidding… [County Commission President Larry] Langford says he does municipal finance work only with his friends…Most states, cities and towns choose the lowest bidder when purchasing goods and services and that is Jefferson County’s policy for everything except financial advice…”
“Florida, Maryland, North Carolina, Utah and Washington – which have the benefit of high credit ratings – sell most or all of the debt by auction. ‘When [Washington goes] to market on a competitive bid basis, we know we’re going to get the best price for the bonds,’ says Allan Martin… ‘The gauge of whether or not it was priced in the best interest of our taxpayers is that we are able to take the best price that day. Why anybody would do it any other way is beyond me.’”
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