Victorville Airport Takes a Dive

Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the Southern California Logistics Airport Authority’s $51 million of subordinate tax-allocation revenue bonds to B1 from Ba3.

“The downgrade of the subordinate non-housing bonds is primarily based on the continued, significant deterioration in incremental tax revenues securing these bonds,” Moody’s said in the report Tuesday.

The rating agency said assessed property-value projections in the near term “indicate high probability of shortfall in meeting debt-service requirements within two or three fiscal years after exhausting available borrowable resources and debt-service reserves.”

Moody’s also affirmed its Baa3 rating on the authority’s taxable housing set-aside revenue parity bonds.

The Logistics Airport Authority, located in Victorville in the high desert 80 miles northeast of Los Angeles, has suffered falling property prices since the economic downturn after experiencing a rapid run-up in values.

The airport authority issues bonds and notes secured by tax increment revenues generated in the Victor Valley Economic Development Authority project area. It is also a joint exercise power authority formed by the Victorville and the Victorville Redevelopment Agency.

The Victorville City Council has oversight over the airport authority.

The city itself is facing shrinking tax collections and high levels of debt, complicated by Securities and Exchange Commission and grand jury investigations and their auditor’s warning of insolvency.

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Transportation industry
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