Town announces improvement in bond rating

Date: 12/7/2010

Cec. 6, 2010

By Chris Maza

Reminder Assistant Editor

LONGMEADOW -- The town of Longmeadow recently announced that its bond rating has improved.

Moody's Investor Services gave Longmeadow an Aa2 rating, better than last January's Aa3 rating.

"This communicates to investors that in spite of economic challenges, the town has improved its financial stability," Town Manager Robin Crosbie said.

According to its Web site, Moody's Investor Services' rating system ranks on a scale from Aaa, or "of the highest quality, with minimal risk" to C, the lowest class, which usually means default. An Aa rating is the second-highest rating on the scale.

Therefore, an Aa2 rating means the town stands in the middle of the second-highest rated group.

"It means that they are looking at us as one of the top-rated communities in Massachusetts," Crosbie said. "It speaks to Longmeadow's continued success in financial planning and fiscal responsibility. We have been able to plan ahead and it says a lot about our community, especially given the financial instability within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts."

According to Crosbie, in the short-term, the better rating will have a very positive affect on the community as it prepares to sell the bonds in order to finance the Longmeadow High School building project, as well as water and sewer projects that were also OK'd for bonding.

Crosbie added that the town's ability to adapt its planning procedures in unstable economic times was a big part of the town's new rating.

"I think it's a testament to our improved financial planning," Crosbie said. "Our town is planning budgets 2 to 3 years down the road and planning more strategically."