Budget-troubled Jefferson County, Alabama -- once thought to be on the brink of the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history -- is moving forward with plans to clean up its finances.
Officials are hoping their new plan will convince lenders to help alleviate the county's billion dollar debt.
"Jefferson County hopes it can point a way forward for other deeply indebted municipalities such as Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Bell, California.
'The same problems that we have experienced in Jefferson County are coming to the municipal market nationwide and we are just kind of at the forefront,' said Jimmie Stephens, finance commissioner in the county's five-person government.
'How we solve it and how creative we are is going to be a road map for others to follow,' Stephens said in an interview."
Thanks to Governing
FULL STORY: Alabama county devises road map for debt crisis
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