Moody's, citing pension crisis, downgrades Chicago's debt to junk status
Posted: 05/12/2015, 04:17pm | Fran Spielman - Reuters
Moodyfs Investorfs Service on Tuesday dropped Chicagofs bond rating two more
notches — to junk status — turning up the heat on Mayor Rahm Emanuel to
raise property taxes and on the Illinois General Assembly to approve a Chicago
casino.
gIt is irresponsible to play politics with Chicagofs financial future by
pushing the city to increase taxes on residents without [pension] reform,h
Emanuel was quoted as saying in an emailed statement.
The decision to drop the bond rating that determines city borrowing costs
— from Baa2 to Ba1 with a negative outlook — comes just days after the
state Supreme Court unanimously overturned state pension reforms and placed
Emanuelfs plan to save two of four city employee pension funds in similar
jeopardy.
The rating applies to $8.1 billion in general-obligation debt, $542 million
in outstanding sales tax revenue debt and $268 million in outstanding and
authorized motor fuel tax revenue.
gBased on the Illinois Supreme Courtfs May 8 overturning of the statute that
governs the State of Illinoisf pensions, we believe that the cityfs options for
curbing growth in its unfunded pension liabilities have narrowed considerably,h
Moodyfs wrote.
gWhether or not the current statutes that govern Chicagofs pension plans
stand, we expect the costs of servicing Chicagofs unfunded liabilities will
grow, placing significant strain on the cityfs financial operations absent
commensurate growth in revenue and/or reductions in other expenditures.h
Moodyfs noted that the gmagnitude of the budget adjustmentsh that will be
required to solve the combined, $30 billion pension crisis at the city and
public schools are gsignificant.h Chicagofs tax base is ghighly leveraged by the
debt and unfunded pension obligationsh of the city and overlapping governments,
the rating agency said.
gBalanced against the cityfs many credit challenges are several attributes,
the greatest of which is the cityfs broad legal authority to tap into its large
and diverse tax base for increased revenue,h Moodyfs wrote.
Emanuel responded to the alarming drop by blaming the messenger.
The mayor acknowledged that Chicagofs financial crisis is gvery real and at
our doorsteps.h But he called the Moodyfs double-drop girresponsible,h gfar
beyond realityh and gout of step with other rating agencies — by as many as six
steps.h
gTheir decision was driven solely by the overturning of a state pension bill
that did not include Chicagofs pension reform, yet they did not downgrade the
State of Illinois,h the mayor was quoted as saying.
gThey refuse to acknowledge Chicagofs growing economy, progress we have made
on our legacy financial liabilities, balancing four budgets without raising
property taxes while adding to our reserves, securing pension reforms for two of
the Cityfs four funds . . . that were previously in danger, and the progress we
are now making with our partners in labor at the other two city funds.h
Emanuel accused Moodyfs of jumping the gun in an attempt to hold the new City
Councilfs feet to the fire.
gI am committed to focus on both reform and revenue to address Chicagofs
fiscal crisis, and we will continue our work in Springfield and with our
partners in labor to ensure we will always meet our obligations, protect the
retirements of our work force, continue to deliver vital city services, while
protecting our taxpayers,h he was quoted as saying.
Earlier this month, Emanuel unveiled a plan to insulate the cityfs bond
rating from another drop tied to the state pension ruling by moving away from
risky financial practices that former Mayor Richard M. Daley used to gmaskh the
true cost of city government.
It called for: terminating risky swaps; converting general-obligation debt
from variable to fixed interest rates; phasing out the gscoop-and-tossh practice
of paying short-term obligations with long-term debt and weaning the city away
from the dangerous habit of borrowing to bankroll costly legal settlements.
Now, ending those practices could be more costly.
The plan was already going to add $105 million to the cityfs operating
shortfall. There was also a $230 million penalty to get out from under swaps
that was to be folded into the refinancing to avoid putting added pressure on
the city budget.
Budget Director Alex Holt said Tuesday the city plans to forge ahead with
that plan, even though gswaps that overlay variable rate debth could be called
in immediately as a result of the double-downgrade.
gIf they do, there will be termination payments wefll need to make. But we
were going to take out $200 million in variable rate debt anyway over the course
of this year,h Holt said.
As for the cityfs ability to borrow to fund capital projects, Holt said, gWe
think the capital markets will continue to be available to us. We think
investors still have confidence in the city.h
Moodyfs described the penalties in much more dire terms.
gImmediate credit challenges include potential draws on liquidity associated
with rating triggers embedded in the cityfs letters of credit, stand-by bond
purchase agreement, lines of credit, direct bank loans and swaps,h Moodyfs
wrote.
gThe current rating actions give the counterparties of these transactions the
option to immediately demand up to $2.2 billion in accelerated principal and
accrued interest and associated termination fees.h
Moodyfs decision to turn up the heat for new revenue comes just days before
the new City Council is sworn in.
gItfs unfortunate timing. We know therefs a task in front of us. This just
makes it a little more — I donft want to say urgent. But it complicates it a
little more than it needs to. It has a chilling effect on anything wefd like to
do in the financial markets,h said Ald. Pat OfConnor (40th), the mayorfs City
Council floor leader.
With the Municipal Employees and Laborers pension reforms in jeopardy and a
state-mandated, $550 million payment due in December to shore up police and fire
pension funds, OfConnor was asked whether the City Council would act quickly to
raise property taxes.
gWhat is the amount that will get the rating agencies off your back and not
cripple the recovering housing market? No amount of property tax increase gets
you out of the problem,h OfConnor said.
gIf people roll up their sleeves and try to work out an agreement, we could
at least have a road map to this in a short period of time. That would be a much
better solution than us looking to pass some symbolic property tax hike. We need
to sit with the unions and with our counterparts in Springfield so we can all be
working on the same problem at the same time. I donft think any of it has to
wait. It just has to be coordinated, and it has to be now.h
Civic Federation President Laurence Msall called the double downgrade
gterrible, but not unforeseeable newsh for the city and gevery governmenth
across the state.
gThis will make short-term borrowing much more expensive and will necessitate
the termination of all city swaps associated with general-obligation bonds,
which currently have a negative value of more than $200 million,h Msall said in
a statement.
gWhen these deals were made, it was almost inconceivable that the City of
Chicago would ever be downgraded to speculative grade credit. Moodyfs decision
is a direct result of Fridayfs Illinois Supreme Court ruling to overturn the
2013 Illinois pension reform law, but it remains to be seen how the courts will
decide on the cityfs pension reform legislation which was negotiated with the
cityfs unions and is based on a different legal argument.h