What happens when municipalities can't roll over debt?

[CrackSmokeRepublican]

Looks like this is starting to happen because of the Lehman Bros. failure.

Lehman Roils Muni Swaps as Collapse Forces Payments (Update2)
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By Michael McDonald and Michael Quint

Dec. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Six years after embarking on an effort to lower borrowing costs using derivatives, New York is watching those savings evaporate.

The state says it paid bankrupt Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and other Wall Street banks at least $75.9 million since March to end interest-rate swap contracts that were supposed to lock in below-market rates. That money and the costs of issuing new debt to replace bonds linked to swaps gone awry are eroding the $207 million in savings New York budget officials say the derivatives produced since 2002.

New York isn't alone. Lehman's bankruptcy filing on Sept. 15 triggered the termination of similar contracts across the country, forcing state and local governments and other borrowers in the $2.67 trillion municipal-debt market to buy out the agreements. They suddenly find themselves making unexpected payments at a time when their revenue is already under pressure from the worst recession since World War II.

"People are fixing problems right now," said Nat Singer, managing partner at Swap Financial Group in South Orange, New Jersey, and the former head of municipal derivatives at Bear Stearns Cos. The number of new deals has shrunk to a "fraction" of the amount a year ago as issuers unwind failed swaps with Lehman, Singer said.

Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts, and a school district in Pennsylvania vowed never to use swaps again after losing money. The added costs in New York come as the state faces a record $15.4 billion budget deficit over the coming 15 months.

Lowering Costs

In a swap, parties agree to exchange interest payments, usually a fixed payment for one that varies based on an index. Borrowers may benefit by using swaps to lower interest expenses or lock in rates for future bond sales.

New York agencies used them to lower the cost of almost $7 billion in bonds sold between 2002 and 2005, according to an Oct. 30 report from the budget division. The average fixed rate the agencies agreed to pay Lehman and other banks was 3.78 percent, compared with 4.5 percent if they had sold conventional tax-exempt debt, officials calculated.

The state failed to comprehend the extent of the risks involved in entering into the long-term contracts, which often last more than 20 years, the report said. They included the likelihood an investment bank would go out of business, triggering the termination of the agreement.

930,000 Contracts

"One of the main risks with swaps, which is that a sudden bankruptcy of a counterparty could terminate a swap in unfavorable mark-to-market conditions, was not effectively addressed in the existing laws and agreements," the budget division wrote in its annual report.

A budget-division spokesman, Matt Anderson, said in an e- mail that "given the current volatility in the market, we currently don't anticipate entering into further swap agreements at this time."

Lehman had about 930,000 derivatives contracts of all types when it collapsed, according to bankruptcy filings. About 30,000 remain open, Robert Lemons, a Weil, Gotshal & Manges lawyer representing Lehman, said last week. The contracts are worth billions of dollars to Lehman's creditors, though their exact value isn't clear, he said.

The cost of ending a contract depends on current interest rates. Since New York and other issuers agreed to pay a fixed rate to Lehman when borrowing costs were higher, they must pay the bank to end the deals. The three-month dollar London interbank offered rate, or Libor, upon which many agreements are based has tumbled to 1.466 percent from 5.5725 percent in September 2007.

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