City Officials to Meet with Bond Rating Agencies

Finance Department - Oct. 23, 2007
Contact: Denise Bell, 727-2608

A delegation of city officials will travel to New York on Thursday to meet with representatives of Moody’s Investor Services, Fitch Inc. and Standard and Poors as the first step in a proposed issue of certificates of participation in January 2009.

The delegation will update the rating agencies on the city’s financial position and the local economy, which the agencies take into account when they announce ratings for the issue.

In August 2006 all three credit rating agencies assigned an $18 million issue of certificates of participation the highest possible "AAA" rating. The favorable rating reduced the amount of interest the city will pay, saving taxpayers’ money.

The city periodically sends representatives to New York to meet with rating agencies and underwriters when it is preparing to issue bonds or certificates of participation. This year, Denise Bell, the city’s chief financial officer, proposed that members of the City Council’s Finance Committee make the trip, to better familiarize themselves with the underwriting process.

The delegation includes council members Wanda Merschel, Vivian H. Burke, Joycelyn Johnson, Robert Clark, and Evelyn Terry, City Manager Lee Garrity and Bell. The group will depart Thursday afternoon, meet with the agencies on Friday, and return Saturday morning.

Certificates of participation can be issued to finance various capital needs of the city. Interest payments on the certificates are exempt from state and federal taxes.