S&P Global Ratings lowered its long-term and underlying ratings on the City of Shreveport, La.'s general obligation (GO) debt to 'BBB+' from 'A'. The outlook is negative. The downgrade reflects our view that management has not been able to reverse structural imbalance between revenues and expenditures that has been pressuring the city's budget for several years. S&P Global Ratings' criteria for rating local governments include a rating cap of 'BBB+' for local governments that exhibit characteristics of structural imbalance that we expect to continue and where the government does not have a credible plan to restore balance. We believe Shreveport's trends over the past three years are consistent with applying the 'BBB+' rating cap. Ongoing underfunded pension contributions, stagnant revenues,
