Bangkok--19 Nov--Standard & Poor's
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services raised its rating on St. Clair County, Mich.'s existing Michigan Transportation Fund (MTF) debt to 'AA+' from 'AA'. At the same time, Standard & Poor's assigned its 'AA+' rating to the county's MTF refunding bonds, series 2009. The outlook is stable.
"The raised rating reflects the statewide collection of pledged revenues distributed to the county, the stable trend of gas and weight tax receipts, and our expectation of limited future debt needs, combined with strong protections against debt dilution that will contribute to the maintenance of high debt service coverage," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Blake Yocom.
The rating reflects the county's pledge of annual gas and weight taxes received by the county from the state according to state law Act 51, Public Acts of Michigan, 1951, as amended.
The bonds are being issued for the purpose of refunding the MTF bonds, series 1999. After issuance, all outstanding debt obligations will be approximately $3.27 million. In addition to this refunding, the county has $530,000 in outstanding transportation fund debt maturing in fiscal 2011. Pledged revenue coverage from receipts for fiscal 2008 on estimated maximum annual debt service ($817,000 in fiscal 2011) exceeds 12.8x. Debt service coverage is expected to remain high due to the board's limited bonding plans.
RELATED RESEARCH
USPF Criteria: "State Credit Enhancement Programs," Nov. 13, 2008
Complete ratings information is available to RatingsDirect on the Global Credit Portal subscribers at www.globalcreditportal.com and 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. Use the Ratings search box located in the left column.
Media Contact:
Ana Sandoval, New York (1) 212-438-5095,
[email protected]
Analyst Contacts:
Blake Yocom, Chicago (1) 312-233-7056
Corey Friedman, Chicago (1) 312-233-7010
Key Contacts:
Americas Media Relations: (1) 212-438-6667
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[email protected]
Americas Customer Service: (1) 212-438-7280
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