Bangkok--14 Jun--Standard & Poor's
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services raised its rating and underlying rating (SPUR) to 'A+' from 'A' on Elko County, Nev.'s outstanding general obligation (GO) debt. Standard & Poor's also assigned its 'A+' rating to the county's series 2010 limited-tax GO bonds. The outlook on all ratings is stable.
"The raised ratings reflect our opinion of the county's ongoing strong financial operations and maintenance of a very strong unreserved fund balance," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Bryan Moore.
In our opinion, the county has performed well financially in recent years. It has maintained a minimum of 25% of expenditures in the unreserved general fund balance during the past four years (fiscals 2005 to 2009) and ended fiscal 2009 with $7.8 million, or 34% of expenditures. In fiscal 2010, the county responded to a decline in revenues by drawing on the reserves to an anticipated year-end balance of approximately $5.1 million, or, in our opinion, a very strong 21% of expenditures. It is management's practice to budget down to the formal 8.3% of expenditures reserve policy, though typically the county will end the year with a higher percentage. However, for fiscal 2011, management has budgeted down to 5.7% of expenditures and expressed that in a worst-case scenario the unreserved fund balance would be approximately $1.5 million (5.7% of expenditures); however, it expects to finish stronger than that as the county has historically done.
Elko County is located in northeastern Nevada between Salt Lake City and Reno on Interstate 80; the county seat is n the City of Elko. The county shares its eastern border with Utah and its northern border with Idaho. The current population of Elko County is approximately 51,000.
RELATED CRITERIA AND RESEARCH
USPF Criteria: GO Debt, Oct. 12, 2006
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:
Bryan A Moore, San Francisco (1) 415-371-5077
Paul Dyson, San Francisco (1) 415-371-5079
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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