Moody's Investors Service Rating
On May 8, 2007, Moody's Investors Service has assigned an Aa3 rating to the City of Lakewood's General Obligation Long Term (GOLT) debt. The Aa3 rating applies to the City’s $59.828 million of general obligation limited tax debt, which includes the 2007 issuance of $10.84 million. The City has retained its Aa3 rating, and the negative outlook designation given with the 2005 issuance has been removed. The Aa3 is considered a very good rating, and as of September 2006 only 35 Ohio municipalities out of 177 rank higher than the City of Lakewood.
The Aa3 rating reflects the City's modest, but improving financial position; moderately sized and mature tax base with above average socioeconomic indicators; and manageable debt profile. According to Moody’s, “after three successive years (2002 to 2004) of sizable operating shortfalls due to softening of the city’s primary revenues (namely, income taxes), the city reduced its workforce through attrition and achieved other operating efficiencies so as to restore structural balance, leading to modest surpluses in fiscal 2005 and fiscal 2006 (unaudited).” The 2007 Comprehensive Budget Document released on April 24th details the City’s efforts and initiatives to strengthen the structural financial balance over the past few years. |
