N.Y.'s $230M Sale Postponed; S&P Withdraws Deal Rating

New York's budget delay caused a $230 million personal income tax bond sale planned for this week to be postponed.

That led Standard & Poor's to withdraw its rating on the bonds the New York State Housing Finance Agency, one of five public authorities that sell PIT bonds, still plans to sell.

HFA spokesman Philip Lentz said the bonds will probably be priced the first week in May.

"We got caught up in the budget cycle," Lentz said. "Because the budget was passed a couple days beyond April 1 it meant that we couldn't make the full disclosure we normally do when we sell those bonds."

The Legislature approved the $121.7 billion fiscal 2009 budget on April 9, missing the deadline by nine days. Division of budget spokesman Jeffrey Gordon said in an e-mail that such delays are typical around budget time.

"Even though all of our disclosure documents indicate that there may be changes, it is a prudent practice, when there is change in the market or conditions, to wait and hold bond sales after the budget passes," Gordon said.

Standard & Poor's analyst Eden Perry said that they withdrew the rating because there will be new numbers in the documentation because of the new budget.

"When we get the new documentation and the new disclosure we'll just go back to committee and redo it," Perry said. "We don't expect any problems with it."

Standard & Poor's rates the state's PIT credit AAA.

Fitch Ratings assigns the PIT credit its AA-minus rating. Moody's Investors Service does not rate the credit.

 

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