BOSTON — Charlie Baker remembers January 1991, when Massachusetts was a triple-B rated state.
"There were days when we wondered if we would become a junk credit," the Bay State's governor-elect said Friday at the commonwealth's fourth annual investor conference.
Fast-forward nearly 24 years and Baker wants Massachusetts to further its momentum and reach a triple-A rating across the board. The state has earned several upgrades since 1991. Its most recent came in September 2011 when Standard & Poor's elevated Massachusetts one notch to AA-plus.
"We've done a lot of blocking and tackling and worked across the aisles to build a first-class model so that investors can get the return they're supposed to," Baker said at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.
Fitch Ratings also rates Massachusetts AA-plus while Moody's Investors Service assigns its Aa1 rating. "We're a double-A plus state that trades its bonds on a triple-A scale," said outgoing treasurer Steven Grossman.
Moody's Investors Service in mid-October said challenges include debt ratios that are among the nation's highest and large unfunded pension liabilities.
Baker, a Republican, defeated Democratic Attorney General Martha Coakley by 1.9%, or about 40,000 votes, in last month's general election. Gov. Deval Patrick, a Democrat, did not seek election to a third term.
"Pursuing triple-A won't be easy, but we can be fiscally responsible, organizationally competent and socially responsible to both the taxpayers and the people who depend upon our basic services. This is not a Republican, Democrat or independent idea," Baker told 280 investors.
Baker was secretary for administration and finance under GOP governors William Weld and Paul Cellucci in the 1990s. He served as chief executive of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, which he steered out of receivership, and for the last three years was an entrepreneur in residence at Cambridge, Mass., venture capital firm General Catalyst Partners.
"I don't know of a governor-elect who is better prepared than Charlie Baker," said Grossman.
Baker who narrowly lost to Patrick four years ago, campaigned on a more moderate theme this time and has talked of bipartisan cooperation during his honeymoon transitional period. He and Treasurer-elect Deborah Goldberg, a Democrat, have talked about pushing the state legislature to increase the stabilization fund balance.
"The fund works basically like shock absorbers, for lack of a better word," said Baker. "Over 15 to 20 years and through two significant downturns, those shock absorbers have been an important part of our success."
Massachusetts ranks among the top five states with roughly $1.25 billion in its stabilization, or rainy-day fund, after withdrawing $140 million for its fiscal 2015 budget.
Baker, who will take office Jan. 21 along with Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, is about halfway through his transition period.
Last week he appointed Kristen Lepore, 45, administration and finance secretary. She worked for Baker in the Cellucci administration as director of fiscal policy, and will oversee a state budget that could reach $40 billion.
