Bonds that financed the lease of the parking system for Harrisburg, which helped solve the fiscal crisis in the Pennsylvania capital, were cut to junk by S&P Global Ratings because of lower than expected revenue, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. The ratings company last Thursday lowered the grade on the Pennsylvania Economic Development Financing Authority’s parking bonds two steps to BB+, the first level into speculative grade. Although the system hasn’t yet drawn on reserves, it has failed to make the required amount of revenue in excess of debt payments the past two years and will likely do so again this year, S&P said. The parking operations also provided Harrisburg less than half of its $2.5 million annual payment for fiscal 2015.
