These past two weeks have brought excellent financial news to the City of Suffolk as we first learned on October 3rd that we achieved our first AAA Rating from Moody’s Investors Service. On October 8th we were advised that Fitch Ratings reaffirmed our AAA Rating, and this afternoon, October 11th, we learned that Standard & Poor’s Rating service has also reaffirmed our AAA Rating.
The AAA Rating represents the credit-worthiness of the City of Suffolk government issued bonds. It also provides assurance that the City of Suffolk has the highest quality of bonds with the least amount of risk and that both the principal and interest on the bonds will be paid on time and in full.
In this week’s notifications, Fitch Ratings remarked that Suffolk’s economy has benefitted from our economic diversification and sustained business investment as well as infrastructure improvements that will expand distribution routes. They further commented on our proximity to job markets in the Hampton Roads region in addition to our regionally competitive tax burden, strong population growth, our available land, and our strong budget management at times of economic recovery.
Standard & Poor’s Rating service recognized Suffolk’s very strong management, guided by robust policies and planning frameworks which have led to our consistently strong operations, bolstering our already very strong financial position. They further noted our continued economic growth spanning residential, commercial, and industrial developments. We received our very first AAA rating upgrade from Standard & Poor’s in 2014.
Suffolk now joins Virginia Beach as being the only Hampton Roads cities to have achieved AAA status from all three rating agencies, a designation shared by only a handful of other Virginia localities.