NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) April 3, 2009--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services assigned its 'AA' long-term rating, and stable outlook, to New York City's general obligation (GO) bonds fiscal 2009 series I (Subseries I-1 and I-2). We also affirmed the 'AA' long-term rating, with a stable outlook, on the city's parity GO debt outstanding. In our opinion, credit factors supporting the rating include New York City's substantial and diverse economic base; its comprehensive financial planning process, which has helped it effectively balance forecasted revenue declines and ongoing spending pressures; and what we see as surplus revenues in the past several years that have enabled the city to prepay expenses for subsequent budget years, reduce debt levels, and begin to address
