Articles by City of Temecula

Temecula receives rating upgrade from Standard & Poor’s

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 3:38 PM

City officials learned this week that the City’s outstanding 2008 Certificates of Participation (“the 2008 Certificates”) were upgraded from an underlying A rating to an A+ rating. The rating comes from Standard & Poor’s rating services a division of the McGraw-Hill Companies.

Standard & Poor’s Rating Services has raised the ratings of the general obligation debt of only 33 municipalities and counties in California, Alaska, Arizona, and Washington following a recent review of their credit strengths. Standard & Poor’s stated in their RatingsDirect issue dated March 18, 2009, “We believe that these communities in the western states have improved credit quality.” The 2008 Certificates were issued on March 13, 2008 in the amount of $24,535,000 to fund a portion of the City Hall construction project. The 2008 Certificates are payable from the City’s General Fund.

In its report, Standard & Poor’s notes the City is a primarily built-out, residential community located in the Inland Empire and that residents have access to diverse employment opportunities throughout Riverside, San Diego and Orange Counties. It also notes the City has maintained a very strong financial position and will finish Fiscal Year 2009 with balanced general fund operations as general fund expense have been adjusted downward to reflect a decrease in general fund revenues. “The City of Temecula is in a strong fiscal position and is conservative in its financial planning. It’s great to have it validated by Standard & Poor’s especially in this economic environment,” stated Mayor Maryann Edwards.
 

Media Contact: (951) 506-5100
Maryann Edwards, Mayor

Genie Roberts, Finance Director
(951) 694-6433