County Executive Steuart Pittman announced that Anne Arundel County’s bond rating has been upgraded to ‘AAA’, by Fitch Ratings, becoming one of 52 counties in the nation with a triple-A rating from all three major credit agencies.
“This recent rating upgrade rewards us for the four years of responsible budgeting that allows us to make long-overdue investments in the future of our county,” said County Executive Pittman. “I want to thank the budget and finance teams for helping us make the case to Fitch, and for the incredible work they do to ensure our county remains in the strongest fiscal position it has ever been in.”
In its rating commentary, Fitch characterized the County’s credit outlook as “Stable” and cited low long-term debt liability, superior operating performance and increased levels of reserves as key ratings rivers for the upgraded AAA rating.
“Anne Arundel County now has the gold standard of credit ratings – Triple-A across the board,” said Chris Trumbauer, budget officer. “We are thankful that Fitch has recognized the County’s outstanding fiscal management and deliberate effort to build up our reserves, manage long-term debt and produce an efficient and responsible budget.”
County Executive Pittman led a presentation to Fitch ratings analysts on April 11. The County Executive was joined by Controller Billie Penley, Chief Administrative Officer Christine Anderson, Budget Officer Chris Trumbauer and Wes MacQuillium and Jonathan Boniface from Anne Arundel Economic Development Corporation.
Two weeks ago, the county was notified that it retained its triple-A ratings from both Moody’s and S&P.
