Bond rating

Charlottesville Strategic Plan
Outcome Measure Data
Period
Status
Moody's
S&P
CY 2010At or Above PlanAaaAAA
CY 2011At or Above PlanAaaAAA
CY 2012At or Above PlanAaaAAA
CY 2013At or Above PlanAaaAAA
CY 2014At or Above PlanAaaAAA
CY 2015At or Above PlanAaaAAA
CY 2016At or Above PlanAaaAAA
Period
Status
Moody's
S&P
Period
Status
CY 2010At or Above Plan
CY 2011At or Above Plan
CY 2012At or Above Plan
CY 2013At or Above Plan
CY 2014At or Above Plan
CY 2015At or Above Plan
CY 2016At or Above Plan
Period
Status
Description

A bond rating is a grade given to bonds that indicates their credit quality. Private independent rating services such as Standard & Poor's, Moody's Investors Service and Fitch Ratings Inc. provide these evaluations of a bond issuer's financial strength, or its the ability to pay a bond's principal and interest in a timely fashion.


Ratings agencies take into account many factors of the issuer and the bond issues to assign a rating:
  • Economy & Demographics
  • Financial Condition
  • Debt and Pension
  • Management


Aaa/AAA ratings are the highest level of ratings that can be given and indicate the very strong creditworthiness.
Analysis
PFM’s Preliminary Credit Assessment
  • Charlottesville’s credit fundamentals remain very strong
  • PFM’s preliminary analysis and review of Charlottesville’s Moody’s and S&P scorecards reveal little to no change in the City’s scores
  • Charlottesville’s five-year trends for key credit factors are all stable or positive, but most notably, the City is exceeding its peers in almost all key ratios
  • The City’s economic metrics lag behind those of its peers; however, PFM does not view this as a credit concern
  • City will continue benefit from the Charlottesville MSA and University of Virginia presence


Source: PFM Financial Advisors LLC