Fitch U.S. Muni Surveillance: Regional School District No. 12, Connecticut's GOs Affirmed at '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 -- In the course of routine surveillance, 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. has affirmed the 'AA' rating on Regional School District No. 12, CT's approximately $2.1 million of outstanding general obligation (GO) bonds. The bonds are GOs of the district and its member towns of Bridgewater, Roxbury, and Washington. The Rating Outlook is Stable. The 'AA' rating reflects the district's long history of operating surpluses and the sound financial positions of its member towns. The very modest burden that debt service places on district resources and this rural area's high wealth indicators are also rating factors. A key rating driver is the district's limited financial flexibility, which stems from state mandates that constrain reserve levels. The district is located northeast of Danbury (GO bonds rated 'AA+' by Fitch) and west of Waterbury (GO bonds rated 'BBB+' by Fitch). It owns and operates the Shepaug Valley Middle/High School and operates three elementary schools under short-term lease agreements with its member towns, which precludes it from receiving state proportional progress payments for elementary school construction projects. However, the district has no immediate plans for major capital projects; a referendum proposing a consolidated elementary school recently failed. District debt levels equal a very low $380 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. , or approximately 0.1% of taxable market value. The town of Bridgewater is contesting the original regionalization regionalization Managed care The subdivision of a broadly available service–eg, a blood bank, into quasi-autonomous regional centers, capable of making decisions and providing more cost-effective and/or faster service to hospitals and health care facilities, plan that created the district, which raises a concern about the district's operating environment In computing, an operating environment is the environment in which users run programs, whether in a command line interface, such as in MS-DOS or the Unix shell, or in a graphical user interface, such as in the Macintosh operating system. . However, officials do not anticipate the dissolution of the district, and Fitch notes that the withdrawal of a member town from the district does not relieve the towns or the district from their obligation to repay holders of outstanding indebtedness. Fiscal 2008 ended with an approximately $165,700 general fund surplus on a budgetary basis, extending the district's history of (budgetary) operating surpluses to over 10 consecutive fiscal years. Per state statute, the district returns most of its annual surpluses to the member towns, which limits its accumulation of fund balance. Member towns' general fund balances each equal a strong 15% or better of their respective spending levels. Fitch issued an exposure draft on July 31, 2008 proposing a recalibration of tax-supported and water/sewer revenue bond ratings which, if adopted, may result in an upward revision of this rating (see Fitch research 'Exposure Draft: Reassessment Reassessment The process of re-determining the value of property or land for tax purposes. Notes: Property is usually reassessed on an annual basis. You may request a "reassessment" if you disagree with your assessment. of the Municipal Ratings Framework'.) At this time, Fitch is deferring its final determination on municipal recalibration. Fitch will continue to monitor market and credit conditions, and plans to revisit re·vis·it tr.v. re·vis·it·ed, re·vis·it·ing, re·vis·its To visit again. n. A second or repeated visit. re the recalibration in the first quarter of 2009. 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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