San Antonio’s credit rating is downgraded

City’s creditworthiness takes hit by Josh Baugh of The San Antonio Express-News. A lower credit rating means the city will have to pay higher interest rates any time it wants to borrow money. The binding arbitration could lead to greater spending by the city, hurting its ability to pay back loans.  Excerpts:

"Fitch, one of three major ratings agencies, announced that it’s downgraded the city of San Antonio’s long-standing AAA bond rating.

The downgrade to AA+ occurred because of the Nov. 6 charter amendment election in which voters gave the San Antonio Professional Firefighters Association the unilateral right to demand binding arbitration on contract matters.

The downgrade is expected to cost local taxpayers millions of dollars a year."