“Triple A” bond rating awarded with stable financial outlook despite global COVID-19 pandemic
Norwalk, CT – Norwalk Mayor Harry Rilling announced today that the City of Norwalk received confirmation that the three major rating agencies, Moody’s Investors Service, S&P Global Ratings, and Fitch Ratings each have reaffirmed the city’s “Triple A” bond rating with a stable outlook despite the current COVID-19 pandemic. The Aaa rating from Moody’s and the AAA ratings from Standard & Poor’s and Fitch represent the highest ratings awarded by each of these agencies.
“I am honored that Norwalk has once again achieved a top bond rating. Thanks to our strong financial management and healthy reserves, Norwalk is in a position to navigate these uncharted waters,” said Mayor Rilling. “COVID-19 has certainly disrupted everyday life, but thanks to strategic planning and conservative budgeting, we can hopefully limit any service and program disruptions. Strong credit ratings and financial flexibility allows us to stay the course and move important projects forward as we continue to invest in Norwalk’s future.”
The rating reports issued by the three credit rating agencies present a thorough, objective, and independent analysis of the city’s financial operations and credit strength, with each commenting on the City’s flexibility moving forward.
Standard and Poor’s states, “Although the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic remains to be seen, the stable outlook reflects our view that the city’s very strong budgetary flexibility, conservative budgeting, and very strong management conditions should allow the city to manage and absorb any unanticipated declines in revenue or unexpected stagnation in its economy resulting from recessionary pressures or COVID-19-related events.”
Moody’s states, “The stable outlook reflects the expectation that Norwalk will maintain its strong credit profile given the town’s conservative financial management, budgetary flexibility and expectation that long-term liabilities will remain manageable.”
Fitch states, “Fitch expects the city will maintain strong reserve levels throughout an economic cycle given its historically stable revenue performance, superior level of inherent budget flexibility, and demonstrated commitment to maintaining sound reserves.”
