Although Florida is experiencing plenty of fallout from the economic downturn, six issuers of water, sewer, and stormwater debt received upgrades in the last two weeks from Standard & Poor’s.
A common thread among the issuers, various analysts said, was strong debt service coverage. Most were also cited for strong liquidity levels.
On Tuesday, Standard & Poor’s raised its underlying rating to A-plus from A on Port Orange’s water and sewer revenue bonds. The agency also raised its underlying rating on Palm Bay’s water and sewer improvement bonds to A from A-minus.
Last week, it upgraded Oviedo’s water and sewer revenue bonds to AA from A-plus, raised Polk County’s utility system revenue bonds two notches to A-plus from A-minus, lifted Hernando County’s water and sewer revenue bonds to A-plus from A, and raised Clearwater’s stormwater revenue bonds to AA from A.