Standard & Poor’s on Monday raised its underlying rating on Louisville and Jefferson County Metro Government’s Board of Water Works’ revenue bonds to AAA from AA-plus.
In addition to a stable outlook, the agency also assigned the AAA rating to the consolidated government’s $203 million of Series 2009A and 2009B water system revenue bonds scheduled to sell competitively on Dec. 8.
“The upgrade reflects continued financial operations that are, in our view, strong, as well as comprehensive financial and capital planning that we expect will support strong financial performance on an ongoing basis,” said Standard & Poor’s credit analyst Scott Garrigan.
Additional factors supporting the rating include the issuer’s large and diverse service area, the history of consistent rate increases, coverage of debt service that is expected to remain more than two times even when including a subordinate dividend payment to the metro government, and a manageable capital program funded with a mix of cash and bonds.
“The stable outlook reflects the stability provided by the primarily residential customer base, below-average water rates, and historically strong financial operations,” Garrigan said.
Moody’s Investors Service assigned a Aa1 rating to the bonds.
