GOSHEN – Moody’s Investors Service has affirmed Orange County Government’s Aa3 bond rating and revised the county’s financial outlook from negative to stable. “The Aa3 rating incorporates the county’s below average reserves which are expected to stabilize and then increase in the near term. The rating also factors the modest debt and pension burden, large tax base that has recently stabilized after consecutive years of contraction,” the agency said in its just released report.
Moody’s said the stable outlook “reflects the stabilization of finances by new management and the expected return to surplus operations in 2016.”
County Executive Steven Neuhaus found that comment very rewarding.
“We inherited a sinking ship and what we have been able to do with our team was to turn the finances around cutting over $30 million in spending from a multi-million dollar budget, economic development off the charts, projects like the Amy’s Kitchen and ones that are going to put more and more people to work,” Neuhaus said.
The report said factors that could lead to an upgrade include increased reserve levels in line with higher rating categories and significant growth in tax base and wealth levels. Factors that could lead to downgrade include reserve declines in 2016 and beyond, and ongoing declines in tax base, Moody’s said.
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