Sacramento officials anticipate that if the Kings move, the $77 million in bonds issued by the city will be paid off, but City Councilman Kevin McCarty said he is concerned about when. He said they could do one of three things: “They could move and pay back their loan, or they could move and make minimum payments for the next 15 years, or, No. 3, they could move and default” He added that he is pushing for a single lump sum payoff if the Kings do move. He said his reading of the 1997 contract for the loan with former Kings owner Jim Thomas is that the loan must be paid in full if the Kings move, but he has his doubts. “How are they going to pay off the city’s (loan) if they don’t have t

City Treasurer Russ Fehr explained the city’s contracts with the Sacramento Kings in a Tuesday interview, saying that the 1997 contracts anticipated a scenario in which the Kings may move. Kings owners are legally bound to pay the city $77 million in lease revenue bonds before relocating. Fehr pointed out specific paragraphs in July 1, 1997 agreements that say that if the Kings have not paid their loan, they cannot move out of town. The city’s concern that the Kings repay the loan in light of the team’s possible move is not a new development, Fehr said. “It was thought of 14 years ago” in the 1997 contract, Fehr said. The 1997 agreements were made between the city and the Kings’ former

The Sacramento Kings have a history of leaving town. If the team's current majority owners work out a deal soon in Anaheim, Sacramento will become just one more city in a long string of former hometowns. News of their possible departure emerged a little more than a month ago, leaving many people still trying to understand what the loss of the Kings might mean to the city and the region. That raises the question of what happened in Kansas City, Mo., which lost the team to Sacramento in 1985. People who lost their jobs because of the move and the hardcore fans felt it most, say those in the pro sports industry. But others who watched the team closely at that time said the team's loss mean

City Treasurer Russ Fehr explained the city’s cash flow problems to the City Council Tuesday night, noting that the city’s general fund will need to continue to borrow cash. The city has a $90 million cash flow gap, Fehr said. To address its cash flow troubles, the city recently borrowed $40 million, he said. The city’s cash situation changes throughout the year, according to a report by Fehr. That’s because the city receives property tax revenues during the second half of the fiscal year, which begins Jan. 1, Fehr said. The heart of the problem is the cash situation with the general fund, he said. “I want to emphasize that the cash flow issue in first half of the year is not new,” he

City Treasurer Russ Fehr sounded an alert about the city’s cash situation Thursday, writing in a report that the cash flow is out of whack and the city needs to stop using unsustainable fixes to balance its budget. Fehr expects that the city will need to borrow cash in Fiscal Year 2011 – 2012. “The general fund now has to borrow for cash flow needs,” Fehr wrote in his report. The city will have to pay interest costs on the amounts it borrows, he said in an interview just after the report was posted. At this point, he said he does not know how much the city will borrow in the next fiscal year. However, his report noted that the city has been experiencing cash flow troubles since Fiscal Y

The city is in serious trouble because it is nearly out of cash. City Treasurer Russ Fehr made that dire prediction in a report released Thursday afternoon. He wrote that the city faces a major problem with its cash flow. “Due to the differences in timing in General Fund expenditures and revenues, there is a cash flow gap of approximately $90 million in the first half of the fiscal year,” Fehr wrote. The City Council is expected to discuss Fehr’s report at its Dec. 7 meeting. “If the City's discretionary cash holdings fall below the needs of the General Fund in the first half of a fiscal year, then the City will assume an appalling new risk level,” the report said. “If the City cannot

The City Council on Tuesday revisited the city’s 2003 loan agreements with the Sacramento Kings and decided to keep them in effect. City Treasurer Russ Fehr said he discovered the possible issue with the old loan agreement a few months ago. He said he discussed the matter with City Attorney Eileen Teichert, and she suggested that the current City Council examine the contract because it didn’t go before council members in 2003. The Kings’ remaining debt to the city is $68 million, according to Fehr. In 1997, the Kings and the city signed a contract that permitted the Kings to pay back its loans to the city after reimbursing $30 million in debt to another party, Fehr said. Then, in 2003,

There’s a lot more to Sacramento City Treasurer Russ Fehr than you might think. Yes, he knows all about municipal finances and wears a suit at City Council meetings. But he also plays guitar in a rock band with fellow city employees. Fehr, age 58, is one of six members of The Newz Makers, a city-employee band that started rocking in 2006.  For band gigs, Fehr exchanges his suit for casual garb and goes by the stage name “Luke.” He loves Tom Petty and the Rolling Stones, and was a member of a Sacramento group that was the precursor to the Rutabaga Boogie Band. Fehr’s band mates are Joe Valenzuela, a police captain; Jim Berg, an information technology supervisor; Tom Moore from Human Reso

Photo: John Morrow of Roseville delivers his IOU to the Sacramento treasurer's office. John Morrow doesn’t blame the state government for paying him with an IOU that was one year late. Morrow, of Roseville, took the state’s delays in stride as he submitted his IOU for $1,200 to the Sacramento treasurer’s office Friday morning. “I understand the situation,” he said. “It’s tough out there nowadays." Morrow was one of several individuals and representatives of businesses who did business Friday morning at the city treasurer’s office. The office is buying $10 million in IOUs that were distributed to individuals, businesses and non-profit organizations by the state government. By Friday mor