Credit rating lowered again

A week after Illinois missed another deadline to implement a financial plan and a week before Illinois goes to the bond market to borrow $550 million, Moody's Investors Service and S&P Global Ratings took Illinois' credit rating — for years the worst in the nation — down another notch.

“The price of government just got a whole lot higher,” said Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation, the state's leading public finance watchdog. Today's actions ultimately will result in “tens of millions in unnecessary borrowing costs” as the state pays higher interest rates due to its lowered ratings.

Should Moody's issue another downgrade, the state could incur $130 million in penalties by violating a 2003 agreement that it would maintain an investmentgrade credit rating, Msall said.

It was the second round of credit downgrades for the state under the administration of Gov. Bruce Rauner, who made the state's 13 credit downgrades during Gov. Pat Quinn's tenure an issue in the 2014 gubernatorial campaign. On Thursday, though, Rauner blamed Democrats in the Legislature for the latest action.