WPCNR QUILL & EYESHADE. March 24, 2006 UPDATED 7 P.M. E.S.T., 9:00 A.M., March 25, 2006, UPDATED Saturday, March 25, 5:33 P.M. E.S.T. Updated 1:14 A.M. March 26, 2006 UPDATED MONDAY, MARCH 27, 2006 4:30 P.M. E.ST.:  Mayor Joseph Delfino issued a statement Friday welcoming Moodys Investor Services announcement that the bond rating agency has removed the Negative Outlook from city bonds. The Mayor said the Moodys decision prooves that criticisms of the city financial policies of his administration were just "rhetoric."

The reprieve on the negative outlook appears to have come from a new analyst, Lisa Cole,  assigned by Moodys to evaluate the City of White Plains. The previous analyst who assigned the negative outlook, primarily because of expenses running ahead of revenues and excessive use of fund balance to balance the budget was Edith Behr.

The Moody's report on the new issue of $7.8 Million in bonds was posted to the Moody's website Monday, March 27 as of 11:25 A.M. E.S.T.

Mayor Jospeh Delfino. November, 2005. Photo, WPCNR News Archive.

In an official statement released through the Mayor's office Friday afternoon at 4:12 P.M., the Mayor hailed a return to normalcy: "This is certainly welcome news, but more than that it is a testament to the fiscal health of the City of White Plains. Moody's has confirmed that they will remove the negative outlook, and affirmed our bond rating at AA1. The 'doomsday' scenario predicted by many has been exposed as rhetoric. The future of the City of White Plains remains bright, and this report from Moody's is a clear indicator of that."

David Maloney, Strategic Area Development Officer Grants Coordinator of The Mayor's Office reported earliery that city hall efforts at balancing the budget have passed muster with the Moody's Financial Services (the national bond rating agency)  committee which rates the city's bonds.

Maloney said Friday the city was notified that Moody's has withdrawn the negative rating they gave the city's bonds two years ago, and affirmed the city's bonds' Double A-1 rating. Mr. Maloney had no further details  from Moody's on the positive things the bond-rating agency saw that prompted them to remove the negative outlook -- the source of much criticism from financial critics of the city. 

Not Posted on Moodys website.

However, as of Saturday evening, the Moodys website has not published any notice that the negative outlook has been lifted from the city's bonds, though other ratings changes made Friday March 24 were posted as of 6 P.M. Friday. Persons familiar with the way the Moodys publishes rating changes remark that as soon as ratings are changed they are published on the website.

Councilman Benjamin Boykin told WPCNR Saturday evening that usually Moodys will call a company to advise them of any change in their rating and that a report will be coming out shortly.

Moodys could not be reached for an explanation. The Mayor's Office also could not be reached to find out how they learned this information. (In 2004 when the negative outlook was assigned city bonds, the Mayor's Office repressed this information from the Common Council and the Budget and Management Committee for approximately six weeks. The negative rating came as a shock to the Common Council.)