St. Louis County Retains AA+ Credit Rating
As a government entity, St. Louis County is expected to act prudently with the taxpayer funds that it controls. As a measurement of that prudency, government entities are rated by Standard and Poor's Rating Service as to their credit solvency. Recently, Standard and Poor's Rating Service gave an AA+ rating to St. Louis County - a measurement that remains unchanged from the last ratings period. In fact, St. Louis County has held an AA+ rating consecutively since November 2013. The rating reflects just one step below the highest-possible rating of AAA.
According to information released by St. Louis County, the rating makes their debt more attractive to investors and lowers the associated costs of borrowing. That's good news, too - since the county is expected to release a new sale of $25.4 million in general obligation capital improvement bonds.
The planned sale of $25.4 million in bonds will allow St. Louis County leverage to further invest in road and bridge improvements. The approval of the sale came at a meeting earlier last month. The issuance is currently scheduled to occur on October 6.
In its report, Standard and Poor's listed multiple favorable conditions that factored in its assessment of St. Louis County; among the conditions was strong management and budgetary performance, a "very strong" budgetary flexibility, and other factors.
St. Louis County Commissioner Keith Nelson - who is also Chair of the Board's Finance Committee - said: "This AA+ rating - especially coming now in the midst of a pandemic - is a reflection of our strong and diverse economy countywide, and is the outcome of many years of sound financial management and budgetary performance. This strong rating serves our citizens well as we move forward with continued investments in our roads and bridges."
To learn more about the rating or the county's budgetary practices, click here.
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