Bangkok--20 Oct--Standard & Poor's
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services raised its issuer credit rating (ICR) on Lake Dallas Independent School District, Texas' general obligation (GO) debt to 'A+' from 'A-' based on the district's historical maintenance of a good financial position and limited future capital needs given the district's maturity.
At the same time, Standard & Poor's assigned its 'A+' standard long-term rating to the district's $7.4 million series 2008 unlimited tax school building bonds and affirmed its 'AAA' enhanced program rating on the district's existing GO debt.
The outlook on the ratings is stable.
The enhanced program rating reflects the guarantee of the Texas Permanent School Fund.
An unlimited ad valorem tax on all taxable property within the district secures the bonds.
Lake Dallas Independent School District, with a population of about 21,267, is in Denton County about 25 miles north of Dallas, Texas and about five miles south of Denton, Texas ('AA'/Stable, GO rating).
The district has posted general fund reserves of at least 14% of operations for over the past four years. The district ended fiscal 2007 with an unreserved general fund balance of $5.1 million, or a very strong 20% of operations. Officials project to end fiscal 2008 with breakeven operations and have budgeted to finish fiscal 2009 with a $400,000 operational surplus after a successful election raised the operational levy to the current state cap of $1.17 per $100 of assessed value (AV). The district is currently levying a debt service rate of 48 cents per $100 of AV, which is two cents below the maximum rate that the state will allow to support an initial issuance, for the second consecutive year. Most of the district's operational revenue comes from property taxes (60% of general fund revenues) and state aid (36%).
Officials will use a majority of bond proceeds to construct a new elementary school.
Complete ratings information is available to subscribers of RatingsDirect, the real-time Web-based source for Standard & Poor's credit ratings, research, and risk analysis, at www.ratingsdirect.com. All ratings affected by this rating action can be found on Standard & Poor's public Web site at www.standardandpoors.com; select your preferred country or region, then Ratings in the left navigation bar, followed by Credit Ratings Search.
Media Contact:
Edward Sweeney, New York, (1) 212-438-6634
[email protected]
Analyst Contacts:
Brian J Marshall, Dallas (1) 214-871-1414
James Breeding, Dallas (1) 214-871-1407