Moody’s Rates Jersey City “Stable”, Overcoming Overwhelming “Negative Outlook for All Cities”

“The city government is taking strong action to address both the public health needs of the city and the budgetary implications thereof. The city also has extensive plans to address the substantial expected losses of revenue.” – Moody’s 

JERSEY CITY – Mayor Steven M. Fulop announces the proactive steps to aggressively address unprecedented financial hardships amid the current health and economic crisis are now being cited by Moody’s credit rating as reason to earn a “stable” rating this year despite many cities seeing credit downgrades and negative reviews as local governments nationwide face crippling budgetary burdens.

In the report released today titled, “All U.S. Public Finance Sector Outlooks Are Now Negative”, Moody’s acknowledges Jersey City’s material economic and financial impact as well as our close proximity to the United State’s pandemic epicenter, New York City.  Despite these odds, Moody’s report credits, “the city government is taking strong action to address both the public health needs of the city and the budgetary implications thereof. The city also has extensive plans to address the substantial expected losses of revenue.”

“While we’ve seen mostly upgrades under this Administration, we consider this year’s stable rating a testament to all of the hard work over the past two months to minimize financial hardships for our taxpayers already inundated amid the pandemic,” said Mayor Fulop.  “We were one of the first to confront our projected budget impacts, estimated at $70 million, with preemptive steps to help close the gap including employee buyouts, hiring, and salary freezes, among other cost savings.”