CHICAGO (Standard & Poor's) Nov. 17, 2015--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services raised its rating on Fishers, Ind.'s general obligation (GO) debt one notch to 'AA+' from 'AA'. The outlook is stable.
"The upgrade reflects our opinion of the city's maintenance of its very strong reserves and liquidity," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Andrew Truckenmiller. Management has produced operational surpluses while managing capital needs due to the continuously growing population.
In addition, the rating service raised its ratings on Fishers Redevelopment Authority, Ind.'s; Fishers Town Hall Building Corp., Ind.'s; and Fishers Town Redevelopment District, Ind.'s lease-rental revenue debt, issued for and supported by the city, one notch to 'AA+' from 'AA'. The outlook is stable.
Finally, Standard & Poor's assigned its 'AA+' rating and stable outlook to the
authority's $12 million series 2015 lease-rental revenue bonds, supported by Fishers.
"We believe we will likely not change the rating over the next two years because we expect Fishers to maintain its very strong reserves and liquidity," said Mr. Truckenmiller. Although unlikely, we could raise the rating if management were to reduce debt and carrying charges to levels we consider at least adequate. However, we could lower the rating if available reserves were to deteriorate to a level we no longer consider very strong or if the city were to produce operational deficits due to budgetary stress.
A lease between the authority, as lessor, and Fishers Redevelopment Commission, as lessee, secures the bonds. Lease-rental payments are payable from ad valorem property taxes. The ad valorem property tax pledge is subject to the state's circuit-breaker legislation. The city levies all debt service levies fully and distributes any circuit-breaker losses first across the city's nondebt service levies. The lease is paid by the commission directly to the trustee. Neither rental payments nor the ad valorem tax pledge is subject to appropriation.
City officials will use series 2015 bond proceeds to pay for road and other infrastructure improvements near the 96th Street and Allisonville Road intersection and fund the redemption price of the authority's series 2014 lease-rental revenue bond anticipation notes.
RELATED CRITERIA AND RESEARCH
Related Criteria
USPF Criteria: Local Government GO Ratings Methodology And Assumptions, Sept. 12, 2013
USPF Criteria: Financial Management Assessment, June 27, 2006
USPF Criteria: Debt Statement Analysis, Aug. 22, 2006
USPF Criteria: Appropriation-Backed Obligations, June 13, 2007
USPF Criteria: Limited-Tax GO Debt, Jan. 10, 2002
USPF Criteria: Assigning Issue Credit Ratings Of Operating Entities, May 20, 2015
Criteria: Use of CreditWatch And Outlooks, Sept. 14, 2009
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