11.   Even a tiny reduction in a bond rating can cost an issuing country millions in increased interest costs.

12.   For the deal includes a number of the assumptions and agreements to agree late that could unravel, along with the budget and the already shaky bond rating.

13.   Generally, bond ratings are done in two ways.

14.   Henry Kotula, a hospital accounting expert in Pleasanton, said good bond ratings permit companies to borrow money at more favorable interest rates.

15.   High bond ratings mean lower interest rates for the short-term notes that we sell every year at this time.

16.   If issues relating to debt are not handled properly, he added, the bond ratings of both cities could be seriously harmed.

17.   If those changes fall through, their states could face higher taxes, and in extreme cases, lowered bond ratings.

18.   Indeed, sources a downgrade would cost the authority millions in capital financing expenses and could eventually damage the bond ratings of the state and other authorities.

19.   It has the second-worst bond rating in the nation.

20.   Its bond rating has fallen to the lowest possible level, which will increase the cost of borrowing in the future.