New York City Coffers are Flush With Cash as It Taps Bond Market
- City has $14.6 billion cash balance, double last year’s amount
- Challenges include labor costs and office market weakness
As New York City prepares to sell nearly $680 million of bonds Wednesday, investors are unlikely to see much short-term risk: Its coffers are flush with cash.
The city’s cash balance, which includes reserves, stood at $14.6 billion in early February, twice as much as the same time a year earlier, according to the Comptroller. Although Wall Street bonus payments are projected to decline 20%, personal-income-tax revenue withheld from worker paychecks in January was almost 7% higher than the same month last year, showing that the city is still gaining from the strong labor market.