Standard & Poor's Upgrades County Bond Rating to 'AA'

Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has assigned a “AA” credit rating to Passaic County for its general obligation debt.

The rating is the third highest the agency assigns.

County Administrator Anthony DeNova said this is the first time the county has received the rating. The announcement comes a month after Moody’s Investors Service assigned a “Aa3” rating on the county’s $484 million in outstanding general obligation bonds.

“We were confident we would receive a favorable rating from S&P because of the hard work and tough decisions we’ve made over the past seven years,” said Freeholder Pat Lepore, the freeholder budget committee chair. “This rating represents real dollars and significant savings when we go to the market to finance capital projects for improvements to our infrastructure.”

Moody’s report states the county has an “above-average debt burden” but has “forward-looking revenue and expenditure projections.”

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