For the fourth year in a row the City of Hilliard has received the highest-possible rating from a major credit rating agency.
The City learned it received a AAA with a stable outlook from S&P Global on Monday. The City has held a Aaa bond rating from Moody’s Investor’s Services since 2019.
Only 15 Ohio municipalities maintained such high ratings in 2021.
Because a significant function of a bond rating is to project the credit worthiness of an organization, the AAA S&P score means the City will be able to get the best possible interest rates when issuing bonds for major capital projects. Those low rates will be very beneficial when the City issues bonds to pay for the planned community center and wellness campus, which is expected to open in 2025.
“This really speaks to our credit worthiness and our financial stability,” said City Manager Michelle Crandall.
According to S&P Global, “Credit ratings are opinions about credit risk. Our ratings express the agency’s opinion about the ability and willingness of an issuer, such as a corporation or state or city government, to meet its financial obligations in full and on time. Typically, ratings are expressed as letter grades that range, for example, from ‘AAA’ to ‘D’ to communicate the agency’s opinion of relative level of credit risk.”
“This rating indicates the City of Hilliard maintains sound financial policies that ensure it is being a good steward of the resources entrusted to us by our community,” said David Delande, Director of Finance. “By earning the AAA rating, we will spend less to finance the construction of the planned community center and wellness campus. So, the City’s past and current financial stewardship will extend the value of our taxpayers’ investment in their community.”
Crandall added that sound financial policies that result in AAA ratings ensure the City can continue funding projects and programs that ensure Hilliard residents enjoy great quality of life amenities, safe neighborhoods, and the promise of continued economic health into the future.
“Multiple factors go into this rating,” Crandall said. “We have a conservative fiscal approach to spending, and we have benefitted from our ability to pay back on our debt each year and our policy of maintaining a 25 percent reserve fund to pay for emergencies and opportunities.”
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