YONKERS – Financial bond agency S&P Global Ratings has upgraded the City of Yonkers to an ‘A+’, stable outlook, revised from an ‘A’, stable outlook in 2021, Mayor Mike Spano announced.
S&P Global Ratings reassigned an ‘A+’ rating to the city’s general obligation bonds and the city’s school debt.
“Given the fiscal challenges that Yonkers has faced, I am pleased with the latest bond ratings as they continue to be the highest Yonkers has received in forty years,” said the mayor. “These ratings reflect my administration’s hard work and commitment over the last decade to strengthen the city’s finances. Working together with our governor, state delegation and city council, we continue to illustrate a financial plan that S&P has deemed secure and responsible.”
According to S&P, the leading factor for the city’s rating is its improved management conditions, as evidenced by several years of balanced-to-positive budgetary performance that bolstered reserves to the highest nominal amount in recent history, positioning the city to absorb the phase-out of federal stimulus funds, as well as slower economic growth in the first half of calendar 2023.
“The city has made a lot of progress and our financial outlook continues to improve every day,” said Spano. “The financial burdens that threaten New York’s Big Five Cities are real, especially those placed by our dependent school districts and increasingly dependent populations. I look forward to continually working with our city and state representatives to achieve a stronger and more financially secure Yonkers.”
