Fitch Rates Chattanooga, Tennessee's $26.8MM GO Bonds 'AA'.NEW YORK New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of -- Fitch assigns an 'AA' rating to Chattanooga, Tennessee's $26.8 million general obligation (GO) bonds, series 2006A. The bonds are scheduled to sell competitively the week of Nov. 28, 2006. Public Financial Management, Inc. is the city's financial advisor. Also, Fitch affirms the 'AA' rating on the city's approximately $225 million of outstanding GO bonds. The Rating Outlook is Stable. The 'AA' rating on Chattanooga's GO bonds reflects the city's solid fiscal performance and financial management highlighted by policies for maintaining ample reserves and manageable capital needs. The city's economy is moderately diversified and retail sales are higher given the presence of a major regional mall that serves a seven-county metropolitan area. Credit concerns center on the high debt burden and slow rate of debt retirement. Chattanooga is located in southeastern Tennessee in Hamilton County Hamilton County is the name of a number of counties in the United States of America, named for Alexander Hamilton, first United States Secretary of the Treasury (except as indicated below):
adj. Equally distant. e  qui·dis tance n. from Atlanta and Nashville. The city's
population was 154,762 in 2005, a 1% decline from 2000. Although the
manufacturing sector accounts for a slightly above-average proportion of
employment in the area, Chattanooga's economy is stabilized by
employment at the Tennessee Valley Authority Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), independent U.S. government corporate agency, created in 1933 by act of Congress; it is responsible for the integrated development of the Tennessee River basin. (TVA TVA: see Tennessee Valley Authority. ) as well as by a blend
of health care, higher education, transportation, retail, and financial
services companies. The city's unemployment rate of 5.7% in August
2006 was below that of the state but above the national average.
Financial operations are sound and stable, supported by high reserve levels. The total unreserved general fund balance has been at or above 21% of expenditures, transfers, and other uses in each of the past five fiscal years. The fiscal 2005 balance declined slightly, but net of spending on pay-as-you-go capital projects, operating results were positive. Unaudited 2006 figures project a healthy $8.6 million general fund operating surplus with the unreserved general fund balance equaling a high 26.8% of spending. The surplus resulted from better-than-expected tax receipts and intergovernmental transfers and a slight decline in operating expenditures over fiscal 2005. Debt levels have nearly doubled since 2000, partly resulting from economic development debt issuances, and the amortization rate has slowed considerably. However, the city has dedicated tax revenue sources to meet debt service payments on debt issued for economic development projects. Overall debt is moderately high at 5.5% of market value and $4,228 per capita [Latin, By the heads or polls.] A term used in the Descent and Distribution of the estate of one who dies without a will. It means to share and share alike according to the number of individuals. . The city demonstrates sound capital planning in its $174.1 million five-year capital improvement plan (CIP (1) (Common Isochronous Packet) The packet format used in time-based (real time) FireWire transmission. See FireWire, IEC 61883 and mLAN. (2) (Common Industrial P ) through fiscal 2011 with annual pay-as-you-go appropriations supported by a portion of a one-half-cent sales tax sales tax, levy on the sale of goods or services, generally calculated as a percentage of the selling price, and sometimes called a purchase tax. It is usually collected in the form of an extra charge by the retailer, who remits the tax to the government. dedicated to economic development projects. Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use Terms of Use are rules set up by the owner of an intellectual property or service to govern how they may be legally used. In many cases, terms of service are used as a contractual agreement between a company and users of a service they provide. of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures Policies and Procedures are a set of documents that describe an organization's policies for operation and the procedures necessary to fulfill the policies. They are often initiated because of some external requirement, such as environmental compliance or other governmental are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site. |
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