City Of Tuscaloosa’s AAA Credit Rating Reaffirmed

TUSCALOOSA, AL — The City of Tuscaloosa on Monday announced it has received a reaffirmation of its AAA credit rating by Fitch Ratings.

Click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter and breaking news alerts.

This follows a review by the credit rating agency on Nov. 14 and gives the city the highest possible rating for municipalities.

Fitch noted the City’s “growing population trend,” and “financial resilience driven by the combination of its high revenue control assessment and high expenditure control assessment, culminating in an ample budgetary flexibility assessment.”

The city says Fitch Rating’s designations are based on key rating drivers, including revenue framework, expenditure framework, long-term liability burden and operating performance.

The agency also revised the city’s rating outlook up into the "stable" range, noting that even with future debt plans that are fueled by Elevate Tuscaloosa and the 10-Year Plan for the Water and Sewer utility, Tuscaloosa’s “manageable carrying costs and liabilities to governmental revenues” metric is classified in the strong percentile category.

“Since I was first elected mayor, our mission and my commitment has been to ensure genuine accountability and fact-based decision-making in managing the city’s finances,” Mayor Walt Maddox said. “Receiving the highest possible credit rating from one of the top three credit agencies in the country is validation of the work of so many who believe in wisely investing the taxpayers’ money.”

Have a news tip or suggestion on how I can improve Tuscaloosa Patch? Maybe you're interested in having your business become one of the latest sponsors for Tuscaloosa Patch? Email all inquiries to me at ryan.phillips@patch.com