Woo! NYC Debt Has a Hot Credit Rating

City government has never been sexier, as Standard & Poor's have given NYC an A+ to the city's debt rating, which is its best ever! So what does that mean? Public finance expert Dall W. Forsythe explains to the Times that the city can borrow at lower interest rates, more people will be willing to city bonds. And the Independent Budget Office points out to the NY Sun, "The lower your debt service costs, the less a drag it is on your other expenditures" (the city paid $4.6 billion in debt service last year). Yeah, a thrill-a-minute, but we wouldn't expect less from our billionaire mayor, because if there's one thing he knows about, it's money (give or take some issues about how to allocate it): He also told the Citizens Budget Commission that the rating "give me a smile on my face every once in a while."

But it's doesn't mean that the Mayor is thinking of cutting our taxes: He also told the CBC, "We've made it clear that we're not going to squander our good fortune by caving in to shortsighted demands for spending increases or tax cuts." The Mayor is most concerned with the rising costs of pensions and health plans for city employees; he's also made a point of planning a very cautious budget for next year.