ALBANY, Ga. -- While much of the nation continues to sift
through the wreckage of the nation's first-ever downgrading of
the federal government's credit rating, local governments'
ability to borrow money likely won't be affected. Local
government debt and federal government debt are hardly the same
things. The federal government's debt problem stems from chronic
borrowing inflamed by the fact that it spends more than it takes
in. At the local level, governments are barred from spending
more than they receive in tax revenues from year to year. If the
city of Albany's upcoming budget was $105 million, for example,
it would have to use a mixture of property taxes, sales taxes,
fees, surcharges and grants to come up to that amount. If it
couldn't, the city couldn't "borrow" the difference. It would
simply have to raise taxes or cut its budget. But when local
governments do borrow money, it's often for long-term, high-
dollar projects like sewer extensions or large road projects. In
the most basic sense, government