City Colleges of Chicago, IL GO Debt Rating Lowered To 'BBB' On Weaker Finances, State Budget Impasse; On Watch Neg

CHICAGO (S&P Global Ratings) April 20, 2017--S&P Global Ratings lowered its rating four notches to 'BBB' from 'A+' on Cook County Community College District (CCD) No. 508 (City Colleges of Chicago), Ill.'s outstanding unlimited-tax general obligation (GO) bonds. We also placed the rating on CreditWatch with negative implications. "The downgrade reflects substantially weakened unrestricted net assets and a trend of operating deficits leading to a negative fund balance," said S&P Global Ratings credit analyst Blake Yocom, "along with liquidity pressure caused in part by reduced and unreliable state funding." Other factors include declining enrollment and potential risks of a weakened financial position should the state fail to adopt a fiscal 2017 and 2018 state budget and no additional funds are

...CHICAGO (S&P Global Ratings) April 20, 2017--S&P Global Ratings lowered its rating four notches to '###' from 'A+' on Cook County Community College District (CCD) No. 508 (City Colleges of Chicago), Ill.'s outstanding unlimited-tax general obligation (GO) bonds. We also placed the rating on CreditWatch with negative implications. "The downgrade reflects substantially weakened unrestricted net assets and a trend of operating deficits leading to a negative fund balance," said S&P Global Ratings credit analyst Blake Yocom, "along with liquidity pressure caused in part by reduced and unreliable state funding." Other factors include declining enrollment and potential risks of a weakened financial position should the state fail to adopt a fiscal 2017 and 2018 state budget and no additional funds are appropriated for CCDs. "We placed the rating on CreditWatch Negative due to the ongoing state budget impasse and its effects on the district's finances, namely its negative fund balance and pressured...

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