April 8 (Bloomberg) -- New York state and localities including Westchester County borrowed a record $1.4 billion to cover retirement contributions this year, showing how even the wealthiest communities are struggling to make the payments.

The IOUs to New York’s $161 billion pension fund rose about 22 percent from last year, according to budget documents and data from Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. The programs let the governments spread out some obligations over as long as 12 years with interest. The state put off $937 million and municipalities $472 million through two programs, one created by DiNapoli in 2010, the other by Governor Andrew Cuomo last year.

Even as Standard & Poor’s is poised to raise the state’s grade to its highest since 1972, rating companies have cut some New York City suburbs, citing the loans as a sign of imbalanced budgets. Westchester, north of New York City, lost its top mark from Moody’s Investors Service in November. In March, Moody’s lowered Suffolk County, home to the Hamptons beach towns, to four steps above junk.