HJ Sims & Co Senior Vice President and Director of Credit Analysis Richard Larkin spoke with FOX Business Network’s (FBN) Charlie Gasparino about New York City’s mayoral race and the city’s debt. Larkin said, that New York City has “a four year financial plan” in place and that “regardless of who’s mayor” the fiscal discipline will still be there. Larkin went on to say, that “it would take an awful lot” for a mayor to come in and “sink New York City” financially.
On whether bond holders will survive financially if New York City mayoral candidate Bill De Blasio gets elected:
“I don’t know much about Mr. De Blasio. I’ve read his campaign platform, and website and I have been reading the papers, but it would take an awful lot to sink New York City and if a liberal mayor comes in and all of the sudden opens up the spigot. You’ll see it right away and it will be in the financial plan, so you’ll see it coming. It’s not going to happen overnight.”
On the different controls over the New York City debt:
“The most important thing the city has going for them is they always have a four year financial plan. They have to forecast four years out what they are going to do, so if they do something this year they have to project what the impact is going to be over the next four years. That’s probably the single biggest control – the city was under a control board for 30 years. It really expired in 2008 and I thought that’s going to be a shame because that really brought the city back. The control board expired, but they kept the fiscal discipline in, so that’s going to be there regardless of who’s mayor.”
