Moody’s downgrades New Jersey’s bond rating

It’s going to get more expensive for New Jersey’s state government to borrow money. For the third time since April, a bond rating agency has downgraded the state’s general obligation bonds.

Moody’s Investors Service is now rating the state’s debt at A1 rather than Aa3. The firm now considers the state a low risk of defaulting rather than a very low risk.

Fitch Ratings downgraded the state’s rating earlier this April and Standard & Poor’s took the same step in April.

Moody’s says the downgrade is because of revenue shortfalls and reliance on one-time budget solutions that don’t fix the state’s finances in the long-term.

It comes two weeks after Gov. Chris Christie announced the state has an unexpected $807 million revenue shortfall to fix between now and June 30.