Fitch Ratings announced that Prince George’s County will retain its AAA bond rating.  The county is still waiting to hear from Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s, however its expects to retain its AAA bond rating from both organizations.  As reported by Gazette.net:

“Our economic climate is stable because we have made prudent fiscal management a priority,” Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker III (D) said in a statement. “I am confident that we will generate new business and create more job opportunities, as a result of our bond status.”

The county’s reserve levels at the end of fiscal 2011 were high — about $320 million — an increase of about $21 million over the previous fiscal year, and the county’s unemployment rate was 7.5 percent in July, said Thomas Himler, director of the county’s Office of Management and Budget. The county unemployment rate was lower than the national average of 9.1 percent and close to the state average of 7.4 percent. This information, as well as the county’s flexibility to reduce expenditures, if needed, were cited as examples of the county’s good financial status in Fitch’s report, released Aug. 25.