RIVERSIDE (CNS) - A divided Board of Supervisors today approved moving forward with a bond sale capped at $727 million to generate funds to pay down growing pension debts, but the turbulent market conditions cast doubt on the sale happening anytime soon.
The sale of 2020 Series Pension Obligation Bonds was atop the board's agenda following a lengthy discussion regarding novel coronavirus impacts following the national emergency declared by the president.
"A biological issue has turned into a financial issue, and now a liquidity issue,'' county Chief Financial Officer Don Kent told the board. "It's an economic downturn, and I've never seen anything like this before. It's like 9/11 and the 2008-09 financial crisis has been mashed into one.''
Kent said the county's interest earnings on ass
