Minnesota County Wins Upgrade

CHICAGO — Moody's Investors Service upgraded Polk County, Minn. to Aa2 from Aa3 citing healthy reserves and growing tax base.

The rating action on May 22 impacts $14.7 million of rated debt. The county has a total of $28.4 million of outstanding debt although some is not rated by Moody's.

The rating reflects the county's solid fiscal management with healthy reserves, growing tax base within the Grand Forks, North Dakota metropolitan area and a moderate degree of leverage from debt and pension obligations, Moody's wrote.

The county could a further upgrade if it experiences substantial expansion of its tax base or its debt burden and fixed costs moderate. A downgrade could be driven by imbalanced operations or a material drop in its reserves or tax base.

The county is in northwestern Minnesota, just across the border from Grand Forks.

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Minnesota
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