NEW YORK - Moody's Investors Service said it has downgraded to A1 from Aa3 the rating on the Ewing-Lawrence Sewerage Authority, N.J.'s $4.8 million 2002 Building Authority Refunding Bonds. There is no additional debt outstanding.
The bonds are secured by the general obligation, unlimited tax pledge of the authority's two primary members, the Township of Ewing and the Township of Lawrence. In addition, the Authority has pledged its net system revenues, which have proven sufficient to make debt service payments.
The downgrade of the Authority's rating to A1 from Aa3 incorporates the recent downgrade of the Ewing Township's underlying general obligation unlimited tax rating to A2 from A1.
Moody's has evaluated the Authority's unenhanced pool using the "Weak Link Plus" rating approach outlined in the methodology, which places a greater emphasis on the probability of default by the weakest participant in the pool. The weakest link plus rating is equivalent to the weighted average rating of the pool, which is A1.
