Bangkok--10 Feb--Standard & Poor's
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services raised its underlying rating (SPUR) to 'AA' from 'AA-' on San Mateo Transit District, Calif.'s outstanding GO debt. At the same time, Standard & Poor's revised its outlook to stable from negative and affirmed its 'AA' rating on the district's outstanding GO debt. Finally, Standard & Poor's assigned its 'AA' long-term rating to the district's limited tax bonds series 2009A sales tax revenue refunding bonds. The outlook is stable.
"The rating reflects our opinion of the district's strong debt service coverage of maximum annual debt service and its location in a stable economy with what we consider high wealth and income levels," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Ian Carroll. "The rating is further supported by its reliance on pledged revenues for operations, which in our opinion makes it unlikely that additional bonding would materially change debt service coverage ratios."
The district has indicated that it will use the series 2009A bond proceeds to refund a 1998 series.
As one of the nine counties that form the San Francisco Bay Area, San Mateo County is located between the City of San Francisco to the north and Silicon Valley, which spans the San Mateo County boundary with Santa Clara County, to the south. It is both a destination for workers, because of major employers such as Genentech and the San Francisco International Airport (SFO), and a bedroom community to job centers in both San Francisco and Silicon Valley. With a stable population of 725,000, the county has long been essentially built out, although there are opportunities for land reuse and infill development that should continue to stimulate modest population growth.
Complete ratings information is available to RatingsDirect subscribers 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 Find a Rating.
Media Contact:
Edward Sweeney, New York (1) 212-438-6634, [email protected]
Analyst Contacts:
Ian Carroll, San Francisco (1) 415-371-5060
Shannon Groff, San Francisco (1) 415-371-5005