North Las Vegas Credit Rating Upgraded By S&P Global Ratings

NORTH LAS VEGAS, NV - The city of North Las Vegas got an upgrade to its credit rating by Standard & Poor's rating agency. The upgrade, to investment-grade BBB with stable outlook, will allow the city to refinance loans and "save millions of dollars a year in interest," according to a press release from the city.

"Our efforts to recruit new businesses and industries to bolster our city's tax base and creating employment opportunities, improving the quality of life for our residents, and being recognized as the foundation for repairing the city's credit," Mayor John Lee said.

The city's credit rating was upgraded two notches. Lee called it "historic news," for the city. S&P Global Ratings upgraded the city's credit rating because of "continued economic expansion through residential and commercial development, growth in assessed value, strong institutional framework and council-approved policies to reduce reliance on enterprise transfers to the general fund," the release said.

"Less than five year ago we put together a plan with an audacious goal of taking the city's junk bond rating and making it investment-grade quality, and it is exciting to see independent analysts on Wall Street recognizing staff's extraordinary accomplishments as we work to turn our city around," said Ryann Juden, acting city manager.

The city said the money saved on interest will increase the services it can provide to citizens.

The upgrade is the second bit of good news North Las Vegas' business climate has received in the last week. On Wednesday, online retail company Amazon announced plans to build an 800,000 square foot customer fulfillment center in North Las Vegas. The facility will be Amazon's third in North Las Vegas and is expected to add nearly three thousands jobs to the Las Vegas Valley.

"We're excited to open a new, state-of-the-art fulfillment center in North Las Vegas and to continue innovating in a state committed to providing great opportunities for jobs and customer experience," said Sanjay Shah, VP of North America Customer Fulfillment for Amazon.

Image via Shutterstock