Standard & Poor’s assigned an A-plus long-term rating to St. Johns County, Fla.’s Series 2009A sales tax revenue refunding bonds, and lowered the long-term rating on the county’s preexisting sales tax revenue debt to A-plus from AA-minus. The outlook is stable.
“The downgrade reflects declining debt service coverage due to the issuance of additional parity debt in 2009 and declining sales tax revenue,” said analyst Henry Henderson.