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"We had a good,
healthy discussion," Snyder told Reuters after speaking at a
CUNY Graduate School of Journalism event in New York City.
"Michigan economically is doing very well."
Two weeks ago, just before Michigan's most recent bond offering,
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services lowered the outlook on
Michigan's credit rating to stable from positive. It cited
burgeoning costs associated with a lead-tainted water crisis in
the city of Flint and with the cash-strapped Detroit Public
Schools (DPS).
Those rising expenses "will limit the state's ability to build
reserves over the nest two fiscal years," S&P analyst Carol
Spain said on March 17.
Despite the outlook change, Michigan was able to sell about $82
billion of general obligation bonds with a true interest cost of
1.54 percent, showing little sign that the U.S. municipal bond
market wanted to punish the state with exorbitantly high
interest rates.
One encouraging economic sign in Michigan is the 4.8 percent
unemployment rate reported in February versus the national
jobless rate of 4.9 percent.
Snyder said it was a good time to meet with credit rating
agencies because the state is not currently in the market. He
tries to do it at least once a year.
(Editing by Daniel Bases and Matthew Lewis)
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