SYRACUSE -- Moody's Investors Service, a Wall Street ratings agency, gave Syracuse a negative general obligations bond outlook this week, citing Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner's statements regarding municipal bankruptcy. Moody's retained Syracuse's A1 credit rating.
In August, Mayor Miner asked for legal research on municipal bankruptcy, which Moody's used in putting Syracuse in the 'negative outlook' zone. Miner says she was just doing her homework, and that she has always been honest about Syracuse's financial issues.
Miner also says that negative outlooks are common at this point in cities across America, and that she was trying to get the facts to stop that from coming to Syracuse.
"Obviously anyone that pays attention to these kinds of issues, which Moody's and the bankers and Wall Street are, understands that all cities are under fiscal conditions," she says. "We are entering into unprecedented times, and I'm not going to be the kind of mayor that ignores facts or doesn't do research or doesn't do homework, and I think that when Moody's thinks about it more they will understand they want elected leaders who gather information before they make decisions."
Tom Dadey, the Chair of the Onondaga County Republican Party, agreed that he saw this coming, but cited different reasons that Miner.
"While Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner works to elect Democrats to office who have never stepped foot in Syracuse, our city is headed for bankruptcy. That's inexcusable," Dadey says.
