The cost of borrowing money may go up for the city of Rock Island, but not very much. This week, Moody's Investors Service announced a downgrade in its bond ratings for the city from Aa2 to Aa3.
Interim city manager Randy Tweet says it's mainly due to the state's financial problems, and their impact on local governments - in this case rising pension liability for public employees.
"It's still investment grade so it's still a very solid rating. We don't expect any significant impact on our bond issuance - if there's any it would be minimal."
Tweet says in recent months Moody's has also issued downgrades, for the same reasons, for other cities and counties in our area and across the state.