I read this news story with a “ho hum” since their debt is to the county until I saw that they have $10 million utility debt that they are trying to reduce with a Chapter 9 filing?  Iowa is one of those states that explicitly prohibits Chapter 9, so I am not sure where these city officials are coming from.  I am posting this for general consumption since it is symptomatic of municipal governments throwing the bankruptcy word around willy-nilly.  This particular story is more troubling than the Flint, Michigans or Toledo, Ohios that are wrestling hard to balance a budget in an environment with economic decline, high unemployment and strapped taxpayers.  In this case there’s no cry of budget cuts, fiscal stress, troubled pension costs, or workout efforts, etc.  — and the community is near Des Moines, a healthy economy.  They look like they bit off more than they could chew and  just simply want to reduce debt obligations with a bankruptcy filing.