Minnesota's credit rating stabilized after legislative funding deal

S&P Global Ratings said Friday that it believes the state will be able to pay all of its debts.

July 1, 2017 at 3:37AM
S&P Global Ratings said Thursday that Gov. Mark Dayton's veto of legislative funding prompted it to place Minnesota's AA+ credit rating on a status it calls "CreditWatch with negative implications."
A credit ratings agency that raised concerns over a legal battle between Gov. Mark Dayton and the Minnesota Legislature has removed the state from a watch list, saying it is again confident about Minnesota’s AA+ rating. (Star Tribune file/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

A credit ratings agency that raised concerns over a legal battle between Gov. Mark Dayton and the Minnesota Legislature has removed the state from a watch list, saying it is again confident about Minnesota's AA+ rating.

S&P Global Ratings said Friday that it believes the state will be able to pay all of its debts, including $8 million in annual bond payments on the new Senate Office Building. Those payments had been in question after Dayton used a line-item veto to kill funding for the House and Senate and the Legislature refused to meet the governor's demands for restoring the budget.

A temporary agreement reached by the two sides and approved by a judge this week will continue funding for the House and Senate through Oct. 1. In a statement, S&P said it believes that's enough time to resolve the dispute and keep payments on the Senate building up to date.

"The outlook is stable," the agency said.

about the writer

about the writer

Erin Golden

Cities team leader

Erin Golden is a cities team leader at the Minnesota Star Tribune, working with reporters who cover Minneapolis, Hennepin County and metro suburbs. She was previously a reporter at the Minnesota Star Tribune and other newspapers covering topics ranging from state politics to education to business.

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