County receives AAA bond rating on Wastewater Treatment Facility sale

Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's both have awarded Oakland County a AAA bond rating on $53,480,000 Oakland County-City of Pontiac Wastewater Treatment Facility Drainage District Bonds, Series 2012A (taxable) and $4,055,000 Oakland County-City of Pontiac Wastewater Treatment Facility Drainage District Bonds, Series 2012B (non-taxable). The bond sales enabled the district to monetize the wastewater treatment facility from the City of Pontiac. Louis Schimmel, Pontiac's emergency financial manager, used the proceeds from the sale to pay down a significant portion of Pontiac's debt and fund the prior year's deficit. "Because of Brooks Patterson's leadership, Oakland County was able to use its AAA bond rating in a way that helps stabilize City of Pontiac finances," Schimmel said. "This is a very innovative way of providing up-front cash to a troubled community. State officials, including Governor Snyder and Treasurer Andy Dillon, who had to approve it, were very intrigued," said Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner John McCulloch. "I'm not aware of anywhere else in the state of Michigan where a deal is structured like this." Standard & Poor's cited County Executive L. Brooks Patterson's economic diversification of Oakland County from a manufacturing-based to a knowledge-based economy and his balanced three-year budget as among the reasons it awarded Oakland County its highest credit rating. "The 'AAA' rating reflects our view of the county's: Deep and diverse economic base despite a substantial contraction of taxable value due to the economic downturn and job losses in the automobile industry," Standard & Poor's said. It also reflects the county's "robust financial operations with strong management and very strong reserves." "Because of Brooks' job attraction initiatives such as Emerging Sectors and Medical Main Street and his leadership on the county's balanced three-year budget, Oakland County continues to garner a AAA bond rating," Chief Deputy County Executive Gerald Poisson said. Moody's and Standard & Poor's also gave a stable outlook to Oakland County. "The stable outlook reflects our expectation that the rating will not change within a two-year horizon," Standard & Poor's said. Raymond James & Associates, Inc. purchased the Oakland County-City of Pontiac Wastewater Treatment Facility Drainage District Bonds, Series 2012A. Hutchinson, Shockey, Erley & Co. purchased the Oakland County-City of Pontiac Wastewater Treatment Facility Drainage District Bonds, Series 2012B. Moody's and Standard & Poor's also gave Oakland County a AAA bond rating on $1,975,000 2012 Rochester Hills Water Supply and Sewage Disposal System Refunding Bonds. Published: Thu, Aug 30, 2012

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