Fitch Rates East Lansing, Michigan's $10.2MM Rfdg GOs 'AA'.CHICAGO -- Fitch Ratings Fitch Ratings An international rating agency for financial institutions, insurance companies, and corporate, sovereign, and municipal debt. Fitch Ratings has headquarters in New York and London and is wholly owned by FIMALAC of Paris. assigns an 'AA' rating to East Lansing East Lansing, city (1990 pop. 50,677), Ingham co., S central Mich., a suburb of Lansing, on the Red Cedar River; inc. 1907. The city was first known as College Park, but was renamed when it was incorporated. , Michigan's approximately $6,535,000 building authority refunding bonds (general obligation (GO) limited tax), series 2005; and $3,615,000 downtown development refunding taxable bonds (GO limited tax), series 2005, scheduled for negotiated sale on or about Sept. 27 led by Robert W. Baird Robert Wilson Baird (born April 1, 1883) helped found the financial services firm that bears his name and led it for more than 40 years. Baird’s father was a professor of Greek literature at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where Baird grew up. & Co. The Rating Outlook is Positive. The building authority bonds are payable from cash rental payments to the authority from the City of East Lansing and constitute limited tax GOs of the city. The downtown development bonds are secured by certain tax increment revenues; should these revenues be insufficient for debt service, the city also pledges its limited tax full faith and credit to bond repayment. Proceeds will refinance a portion of the city's outstanding series 2000 building authority and downtown development limited tax GO bonds. Fitch also affirms the 'AA' ratings on the city's approximately $13 million outstanding unlimited tax GOs; $16 million building authority limited tax GOs; and approximately $40 million limited tax GOs. The 'AA' rating for East Lansing (the city) reflects the increasing diversification of the regional economy as well as the city's growing tax base, sound financial operations, and below-average debt burden. Increased property tax receipts supplement management's conservative budgeting practices and provide increased financial flexibility. The city's policy of devoting significant current resources to capital maintenance activities helps preserve its infrastructure while minimizing future debt needs. The Positive Rating Outlook is based on the anticipated long-term benefits from recent annexations that should continue the diversification and expansion of the city's property tax base through future development and the city's minimal borrowing needs that should result in a steadily declining debt burden. The City of East Lansing is located adjacent to the state capital, Lansing, in the central portion of Michigan's Lower Peninsula Lower Peninsula also Lower Michigan The section of Michigan between Lakes Michigan and Huron and south of the Straits of Mackinac. Noun 1. . The state capitol complex, along with Michigan State University Michigan State University, at East Lansing; land-grant and state supported; coeducational; chartered 1855. It opened in 1857 as Michigan Agricultural College, the first state agricultural college. (MSU MSU Michigan State University MSU Mississippi State University MSU Montana State University MSU Minnesota State University MSU Morehead State University (Kentycky) MSU Montclair State University ), and the significant regional presence of General Motors Corp., provides the backbone for a diversified regional economy. Strong growth in health care, insurance, engineering, and other business services over the past decade served to reduce the region's dependence on manufacturing. The city benefited from this regional expansion as its economic development efforts, highly skilled work force, and good transportation system attracted an increasing level of investment. As a result, the city's property tax base increased at a 6% average annual rate since 1993. However, with the recent national economic recession, the city's unemployment rate increased to 8.5% as of July 2005, slightly exceeding the state's 7.6% rate, from a low of 3.4% in 2000. The strength of the economy and the city's focus on controlling operating costs generated a surplus for fiscal 2004 (June 30 year-end), with the total general fund balance rising to 11.5% from 10% in fiscal 2003. Reserves would have been higher, but the city utilized a significant portion of recent annual operating surpluses to finance capital projects. Spending restraint continued in fiscal 2005, as preliminary estimates indicate another small surplus. The use of internal resources reduced the city's external capital requirements Capital requirements Financing required for the operation of a business, composed of long-term and working capital plus fixed assets. , resulting in a low direct debt burden equal to $733 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. and 1.9% of full market valuation. 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. |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion