Failed Democrat Governor Dan Malloy’s mismanagement of Connecticut continues to drag the state further into economic decline and fiscal chaos. Just this weekend, S&P Global Ratings announced it would downgrade Connecticut’s credit rating, citing its “declining population and an economic recovery from the last recession that has lagged behind the region and the nation.”
In 2017, all three major credit agencies, S&P, Moody’s, and Fitch, downgraded Connecticut’s bond rating. Unfortunately, S&P’s newest downgrade shows this trend isn’t changing anytime soon as analysts claim that “Connecticut’s debt burden is not likely to shrink in the near term.”
As Connecticut loses its economic and fiscal standing, falling further into decline thanks to Malloy’s failed leadership, Democrat gubernatorial candidates Ned Lamont, Susan Bysiewicz, Jonathan Harris, and Luke Bronin will be held accountable by voters for enabling and defending their party’s mismanagement of the state under Malloy.
The potential for Connecticut’s hefty debt burden to remain a drain on state finances for years to come prompted one major Wall Street rating agency Friday to downgrade the state’s credit rating.
And while S&P Global Ratings cited the recent state commitment to pay down Hartford’s general obligation debt, it labeled that a “relatively small” burden for Connecticut compared with the state’s resources. But when coupled with several larger factors, including an already high level of bonded state debt and a need for more borrowing to fix an aging transportation system, Connecticut’s overall fiscal indebtedness remains a concern.
A weaker bond rating could lead to higher interest costs as Connecticut seeks to finance capital projects in the future.
‘While we view Hartford as a unique situation and the city’s debt as a relatively small in relation to overall state resources, the assumption of debt, combined with other trends, leads us to conclude that Connecticut’s debt burden is not likely to shrink in the near term,’ said S&P Global Ratings credit analyst David Hitchcock. We believe that other distressed cities might apply for state assistance (and) additional transportation debt remains a possibility if the legislature, increases transportation taxes.
Connecticut ended the last fiscal year with nearly $24 billion in taxpayer-backed bonded debt, and has one of the highest per capita debt ratios in the nation…
S & P, which lowered the state’s rating one notch, from A+ to A, also noted that Connecticut continues to struggle with a declining population and an economic recovery from the last recession that has lagged behind the region and the nation.
‘Considering the state went four months without a budget [in 2017] and has yet to address the current year deficit, it should come as no surprise Wall Street is taking note,’ Meg Green, a spokeswoman for Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s budget office, said Friday. ‘ … It’s important to note that Connecticut’s budget situation and historic underfunding of long term liabilities, not this recent action, are driving the state’s rating.’
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