[Bubba Ho-Tep]

Every legislator finds a way of burying these settlement costs into the general budget and rolling the costs forward in the next bond issuance.

The fact is that it's not the cities the pay, it's their insurers.

[NVDave]

Since insurance companies make a profit, we can assume from the mathematical evidence that the taxpayers (who pay the taxes that pay the premiums for these policies) are ultimately paying for the settlement. The insurance companies might just spread the pain over a number of years.