Community Corner
Greenwich Maintains 'AAA' Bond Rating with Fitch
The town's recent implementation of a debt and reserve policy, augmenting "its already sophisticated, prudent, and conservative financial management," helped Greenwich maintain its favorable bond rating.
Although Moody's Investors Service last week , eliciting outrage from state leaders, , which recently implemented a cap on borrowing, has meanwhile managed to maintain its ‘AAA’ bond rating with Fitch Ratings, thanks to its “superior economic profile.”
In a Jan. 12 announcement, Fitch Ratings assigned a 'AAA' rating to Greenwich’s unlimited tax general obligation (ULTGO) bonds.
Helping the Town to maintain its ‘AAA’ bond rating were its “superior wealth levels” and the “breadth of regional employment opportunities” in the area, according to the report.
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The town's , augmenting “its already sophisticated, prudent, and conservative financial management,” also helped buoy Greenwich’s rating, the report states.
Also helping to improve the Town’s outlook is the fact that it operated with a healthy budget surplus in fiscal 2011, giving it a “strong level of financial flexibility.”
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“The town's debt ratios are expected to increase as it implements its 15-year capital improvement plan; nevertheless, ratios are expected to remain in the low to moderate range,” the report states. “Other post-employment benefits (OPEB) and pension liabilities are prudently managed.”
In order to protect its favorable bond rating, the Town last year implemented a policy of keeping a 5 to 10 percent surplus in its unassigned general fund reserve. Up until recent years most Fairfield County towns maintained a budget surplus of 5 percent or less, but that changed when the rating agencies a few years ago started recommending that towns keep upwards of 10 percent in reserve at all times — which has been a .
