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Moody's plays down Olympic risks
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Moody's Investors Service says the financial risk of hosting the 2002 Winter Games is negligible and won't lower favorable credit ratings for Utah or Salt Lake City. "We were impressed from the outset," Robert Kurtter, senior vice president of state ratings for the municipal credit research firm, said Thursday. "The state had made a commitment to live within a resource amount. They weren't going to be drawn into a situation where they became the banker for all cost overruns. This wasn't a bottomless pit they could be drawn into." Moody's report follows a June 1999 assessment that found the financial risks of the Olympic bid scandal had been minimized but not eliminated. It now says the risk "is contained and well-managed" because of $200 million in budget cuts made by the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. SLOC and government officials are committed to spending no more than $1.3 billion staging the games. "As a result, we see little risk that the state or the city could be faced with any significant financial expense or liability that could weaken or undermine the current strength of their finances," Moody's said.
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