Gastonia earns high bond rating as it asks voters for permission to borrow $75 million
The city of Gastonia has earned a AA+ bond rating, the national bond rating agency Fitch Ratings Inc. recently announced.
The high bond rating comes at a time when the city will ask voters for permission to borrow $75 million in the Nov. 8 election for road projects.
The Fitch review also added, “The rating outlook is stable.” Ratings from Fitch generally indicate a city’s financial stability and overall financial health.
“We are pleased that our city continues to be recognized for its financial stability and creditworthiness,” said City Manager Michael Peoples. “It is important that the public knows that we continue to work diligently to be good stewards to the taxpayers and ratepayers who invest in our City.”
In essence, the debt rating means that the city of Gastonia will be able to sell future bonds and debt at lower interest rates. Those lower rates will enable the city, and its taxpayers, to save money in interest costs when the city issues debt.
Fitch Investor’s Service is a national bond rating agency that analyzes the financial health of municipalities based on such criteria as economic base, debt burden, administration and governance. The Fitch rating system is very similar to Standard & Poor’s (S&P) in that they both use a letter system.
This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Gastonia earns high bond rating as it seeks to borrow $75 million
