Fitch Ratings has affirmed Queen Anne’s County’s AAA bond rating in advance of an upcoming competitive bond sale.
Fitch Ratings assigned an AAA rating to the following Queen Anne’s County, MD general obligation (GO) bonds:
- $7.8 million public facilities bonds of 2022 (tax-exempt)
- $14.175 million taxable refunding bonds of 2022
Proceeds from the tax-exempt improvement bonds will finance the costs of certain buildings, facilities, equipment, and grounds. Proceeds from the taxable bonds will go towards refunding a portion of the County’s outstanding public facilities bonds of 2014. The bonds will sell via competitive bid on May 3.
In addition, Fitch has affirmed the following ratings at AAA:
- Approximately $131 million outstanding public facilities GO bonds
- Issuer Default Rating (IDR)
The rating outlook is stable.
According to the Fitch Ratings Analysis:
The ‘AAA’ IDR and GO ratings reflect Fitch’s expectations that Queen Anne’s County will maintain a high level of financial flexibility throughout economic cycles, consistent with a long history of sound operating performance and healthy reserves. The county maintains superior inherent budget flexibility in the form of an unlimited legal ability to raise revenues and solid expenditure flexibility. The ‘AAA’ rating also reflects strong revenue growth prospects from a growing property tax base, manageable expenditure growth and a demonstrated ability to reduce expenditures during economic downturns. Fitch expects the county’s long-term liability burden to remain low.
Stay tuned to Conduit Street for more information.
