The Suffolk County, N.Y. legislature is taking steps to both increase and decrease the county's borrowing.
On Tuesday the county legislature voted to increase capital spending in fiscal 2015 by $22.5 million over the $410.3 million County Executive Steven Bellone proposed. The 5.5% increase is to be financed through borrowing, said Michael Pitcher, director of communications for the county legislature's presiding officer, DuWayne Gregory.
According to Newsday, Bellone's proposed capital spending for fiscal 2015 was already three times higher than the capital spending in fiscal 2014.
The county legislature approved increasing capital spending by a total of $35.6 million over the next five years, according to a written statement from Gregory's office.
At the same time the legislature established a special committee to review the county's planned borrowing of $429 million in the next five years. The committee is to submit a report within the next 90 days. Gregory said he expects the report will recommend reducing the county's borrowing by 10 to 15%.
The proposed increase to capital spending will not go into effect until Bellone either signs the bill or the legislature overrides a veto.
In late March, Moody's Investors Service downgraded Suffolk County to A3 from A2, citing continued use of one-time revenues and significant cash-flow borrowing.
Suffolk County is rated A by Fitch Ratings and A-plus by Standard & Poor's.
Moody's and S&P have negative outlooks on their ratings while Fitch has a stable outlook.
