NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Feb. 23, 2009--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services assigned its 'AA' long-term rating, and stable outlook, to New York City's $520 million general obligation (GO) bonds fiscal 2009 series H-1 and H-2. We also affirmed the 'AA' long-term rating, with a stable outlook, on the city's $36 billion of 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; 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 long-term liabilities, such as retiree health care benefits," said Standard
