{"id":1958,"date":"2020-06-09T08:09:38","date_gmt":"2020-06-09T15:09:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.venturacounty.gov\/?p=1958"},"modified":"2022-07-12T13:08:02","modified_gmt":"2022-07-12T20:08:02","slug":"county-awarded-highest-credit-ratings-despite-impacts-of-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.venturacounty.gov\/en\/county-awarded-highest-credit-ratings-despite-impacts-of-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"County awarded highest credit ratings despite impacts of COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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VENTURA, CA \u2013 The nation\u2019s two top credit ratings firms \u2013 Moody\u2019s and Standard & Poor\u2019s \u2013 have awarded the\u00a0County with their highest short-term rating and reaffirmed its triple A long-term credit rating \u2013 the highest possible\u00a0rating. These ratings will enable the County to refinance and borrow funds at lower interest rates to fund critical\u00a0needs, saving substantial taxpayer resources over time.<\/p>

The high credit rating allowed for the County to refinance the Ventura County Medical Center Hospital\u00a0Replacement Wing Bond on June 3 at a lower rate. This will save approximately $2 million annually in debt service\u00a0payments resulting in $34 million net present value savings.<\/p>

\u201cI really appreciate this recognition of our longstanding commitment to responsible fiscal practices especially\u00a0during this time of emergency. The ratings are a validation of the work the Board of Supervisors, the managers\u00a0and workforce are doing to keep the county fiscally strong,\u201d said Mike Powers, County Executive Officer. \u201cThe\u00a0careful management of public funds has enabled us to weather the COVID-19 response effort, so we are\u00a0positioned to continue providing much needed services and resources to our community during an extreme time\u00a0of need. The community\u2019s commitment to following the guidance of Public Health also enabled us to receive
accelerated approval for reopening our economy. These steps have been crucial as we continue to reopen and\u00a0recover. These steps have also enabled us to receive strong ratings even during a time of emergency.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cThese positive ratings are also a reflection of the commitment of our local taxpaying individuals and businesses\u00a0who have continued to make payments, even in the face of this unprecedented health and economic crisis, to\u00a0fund core, critical health, safety and social services at a time when our community needs them the most,\u201d Powers\u00a0said.<\/p>

The rating agencies provide independent assessments of the creditworthiness of the county as a borrower,\u00a0which investors use as a guide to evaluate credit risk. Government credit ratings are similar to consumer FICO or\u00a0credit scores. The county\u2019s status as a low credit risk means the interest rate it pays to borrow money is lower\u00a0than it would be otherwise, thus providing flexibility and security in funding vital services for the County\u2019s\u00a0constituents. When the county can borrow at a lower interest rate, all county residents\u2019 benefit.<\/p>

\u201cOur credit ratings are a reflection of the strong fiscal guidance provided by our Board and the dedication of our\u00a0finance and budget staff throughout the organization,\u201d said Kaye Mand, County Chief Financial Officer. \u201cThey also\u00a0recognized our fiscal policy requiring balanced budgets and prohibiting the funding of ongoing expenses with onetime sources.\u201d<\/p>

The ratings also reflected the view that the County has very strong budgetary flexibility, very strong liquidity, strong management with good financial policies and practices, a very strong debt and contingent liability profile and a strong institutional framework score.<\/p>

The Moody\u2019s report noted the County\u2019s financial position remains strong and stable, supported by conservative budgeting and expenditure practices and adopted policies. The County has consistently maintained operating surpluses for many years. The report also noted that the County benefits from a strong, proactive management team with board endorsed policies regarding debt, investments and cybersecurity. The report also noted that the County\u2019s diverse economy is less exposed to a coronavirus related slowdown.<\/p>

Standard & Poor\u2019s report also noted that the department wide contingency budget cuts in development, very strong reserves, and the CARES Act grant, provided expectations that the county will be able to make the appropriate budget adjustments to weather the impacts of COVID-19.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VENTURA, CA \u2013 The nation\u2019s two top credit ratings firms \u2013 Moody\u2019s and Standard & Poor\u2019s \u2013 have awarded the\u00a0County with their highest short-term rating and reaffirmed its triple A […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1388,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.venturacounty.gov\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.venturacounty.gov\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.venturacounty.gov\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.venturacounty.gov\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.venturacounty.gov\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.venturacounty.gov\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.venturacounty.gov\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.venturacounty.gov\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.venturacounty.gov\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.venturacounty.gov\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}