PAWTUCKET – Fitch Ratings has affirmed its BBB- rating of Pawtucket’s $14.9 million of general obligation bonds, citing increased revenues and expenditure cuts that have helped stabilize operations, the city announced Wednesday.
“This is indeed very good news for our residents and taxpayers and shows we are continuing to move in the right direction,” said Mayor Donald R. Grebien in a prepared statement.
Raising Pawtucket’s rating outlook from stable to positive, the Fitch report highlighted the city’s “reasonable” management projections for further improvements, ongoing balanced budgets on the municipal side of operations, and the city’s projection of an operational surplus for the current budget year.
Fitch noted Pawtucket’s ongoing plan to address prior year deficits in the city’s school department, which is projecting positive operating results for its final audit of fiscal year 2013.
“A trend of positive school fund operations could lead to positive rating movement. Timely elimination of the deficit balance is paramount,” the analysis stated.
Pawtucket’s discontinued practice of relying on short-term borrowing for cash flow, low debt levels for a community of its size, and rise in reserve contributions to a “moderate” 4.9 percent of municipal spending were also mentioned in the Fitch report as positive signs for the city’s fiscal stability.
