In February, Standard & Poor's raised Garden City's long-term rating from 'A' to 'A+', with a stable outlook. The ratings giant based the upgrade on the City's property tax base recovery and proactive budgetary management.
"... we believe the City possesses the financial stability and flexibility to sustain identical ratings."
The S & P assessment cited the following factors:
- Strong Budgetary Performance
- Very Strong Budgetary Flexibility
- Very Strong Liquidity
- Adequate Debt and Contingent Liability
- Strong Management
The ratings agency stated that the strengths sufficiently mitigated below-average economic characteristics and a large pension and OPEB Liability.
A bond rating is a grade given to a bond that indicates its credit quality. Private independent rating services provide these evaluations of a bond issuer's financial strength or its ability to pay a bond's principal and interest in a timely fashion.