Fitch Ratings downgraded Lorain County’s limited-tax general obligation debt one notch to AA-minus and the Lorain County Port Authority’s 2003A bonds — which are secured by the county’s pledge of non-ad-valorem tax revenues — to A-plus from AA-minus.
The downgrade came in advance of the county’s sale of $5.8 million of GO sewer system improvement bonds.
Lorain County, located about 30 miles outside Cleveland, faces rising financial pressures stemming from revenue declines, largely from sales tax revenue.
Cutbacks at Ford Motor Co., the county’s largest employer, has aggravated the economic situation.
The county is seeking to make permanent a temporary 0.5% sales tax increase by winning voter approval on the November ballot.
