| Fitch Rates DASNY's $51MM School Revs 'A+' Underlying
No school district must make payments on behalf of any other district, and the pledged state aid of any district secures obligations of only that district. A statutory school aid intercept enhances the credit quality of the districts' GO pledges. Loan payments to DASNY are due at least 45 days prior to debt service, allowing for a timely trigger of the intercept mechanism. Borrowing districts agree to assign and pledge to DASNY any state aid funds due to their district. Pursuant to statute and a memorandum of understanding between DASNY, the state comptroller, and the New York State Education Department, upon any school district payment delinquency the comptroller must pay to the bond trustee any eligible state funds due and otherwise available to the delinquent school district. Despite the DASNY program's provisions to allow for probable timely bond payment, the rating also is based in part on the bonds' ultimate recovery prospects even in the unlikely event of a missed bond payment.
Britney Spears displays her coochie
Britney Spears is clearly wigging out in a very public way, but she may be suffering from a mental health issue that many women struggle with in private: postpartum depression. At this point you're probably saying Spears can't have PPD because her youngest son, Jayden James, is already a year old. And how can you be depressed when you're out clubbing in a borrowed bikini, busboy jacket and fishnet stockings? But postpartum depression can begin to develop anytime around the first year of birth. The disorder can be triggered in vulnerable women by the enormous physiological changes of pregnancy and birth along with excessive fatigue and exhaustion that comes with getting up all night with a newborn, or partying into the wee hours with Paris Hilton.
Richard White: Personal beliefs cannot affect association decisions
Personal agendas, political viewpoints, religious beliefs and secret dealings are out the window. The directors have fiduciary duties and responsibilities that override their personal aspirations. It does not matter what a director believes or wants. They are obligated to operate the association according to the book; that is to say the statutes and the association documents. In your situation that means they are required to properly insure the association's property in accordance with the statutes and documents. To underinsure the common areas may place an excessive liability responsibility on the owners. This responsibility cannot be passed to others. If a board is in question as to what coverage they should have, they should talk to professionals such as an attorney and an insurance agent.
Distressed isle properties offer value
Given Hawaii's slowly appreciating real estate climate, more and more investors are turning to distressed and pre-distressed homes where an equity gain may offset their outlays. The number of foreclosure, short sale and distressed property sales has grown as the buyers who took on more debt than they could afford during the last cycle find that their creative financing has caught up with them. While the trend is unfortunate for some, others have found a way to profit from it. Surging home prices and the interest in risky mortgages that were part of Hawaii's recent real estate boom have quelled, but the softening market hasn't deterred the most dogged investors from seeking speculative opportunities. In Hawaii and elsewhere, there is a growing pool of folks who buy and sell foreclosure and distressed properties.
FINANCE: Cornerstone declares bonus dividend for 4th quarter
Cornerstone Community Federal Credit Union is giving a little something back to its members.The board of directors of the credit union announced Monday that its members will receive a bonus dividend for the fourth quarter of 2007. The bonus dividends total more than $488,000, which will be given to the 43,000 members of the credit union."Credit unions are non-profit, so any extra money we make is given back to the members," said Bethann Kibby, marketing assistant at Cornerstone. "We had a very good year, and we're giving back almost half a million."A bonus dividend is the extra interest that is earned on a savings account a member has with the credit union. Members will receive a bonus dividend of 1.5 percent annual percentage yield on all regular share accounts with the credit union (including business accounts).
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