By Bill Lucia
April 7, 2015
Public pensions are one of the top issues confronting the municipal bond market, according to the vast majority of credit analysts responding to a survey released on Monday.
The survey asked 162 municipal bond credit analysts to name the five most important issues or trends currently facing the market. Of the respondents, 86 percent included matters related to pensions, such as funding levels and pension obligation bonds, on their top five list.
The second most-noted topic was Puerto Rico, which 50 percent of the analysts included as one of their top five issues or trends. The island commonwealth is currently mired in a debt crisis.
Tom Kozlik, a sell-side municipal credit analyst at the Philadelphia-based financial services firm Janney Montgomery Scott, LLC, conducted the survey.
While he emphasized that he was not speaking for all of the respondents, Kozlik said that, for him, public pensions are a key source of concern.
And our Council wants to bond the new parking garage or two.