New York State's new budget is a bit late, but far from a dollar short

The devil is in the details and, so far, the details are few and far between in the late-again New York State budget state lawmakers approved over the weekend. Gov. Kathy Hochul last week announced a conceptual agreement with state lawmakers on the $237 billion fiscal 2025 budget.

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U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. declared a local state of emergency Monday to stabilize the islands’ electrical system and pay Water and Power Authority debts after various government-dependent agencies had not been paying their bills. The state of emergency will let the governor use the central government’s rainy-day fund to provide money to WAPA that semi-autonomous agencies of his government owe the authority. WAPA will use the money to make payments to bondholders and other creditors starting Tuesday.?

Nominations are open for the next class of Bond Buyer Rising Stars and the third class of Muni Hall of Famers.

Fitch Ratings upgraded the Kentucky Public Transportation Infrastructure Authority’s $336 million of first tier toll revenue bonds and $443 million Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loan to BBB-plus from BBB. “The upgrade is supported by strengthened debt service coverage ratios due to better than expected recovery from the pandemic,” the rating agency said. Outlooks on the bonds and TIFIA loan are stable at the new rating, Fitch said. Before the upgrade, the outlook was positive.

Learn more about the trends impacting the industry in The Bond Buyer’s annual review of municipal bond market statistics.

Healthy reserves and plans to increase permanent funds to mitigate revenue fluctuations earned Wyoming a positive outlook from S&P Global Ratings. S&P affirmed the state's AA issuer credit rating, which now has a one-in-three chance of being upgraded over the next two years, as a result of the positive outlook being elevated from stable, according to S&P analyst Savannah Gilmore. "The positive outlook reflects the state's robust budgetary performance over the current biennium," Gilmore said.

Read the newest research from The Bond Buyer detailing the public finance industry’s views of the risks and opportunities in 2024.

Municipals were steady Monday ahead of one of the largest new-issue calendar so far this year while U.S. Treasuries were little changed and equities ended up. April continues to be a "tough month" for munis as the asset class has seen month-to-date losses of 1.02%, bringing year-to-date losses to 1.40%, said Jason Wong, vice president of municipals at AmeriVet Securities.

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