Fitch Reaffirms City's AA+ Credit Rating
Fitch Ratings, one of the three nationally recognized credit rating agencies for municipal governments, published their annual review of the City of Richmond following a visit to their New York office last month by Mayor Levar Stoney, City administration leaders and representatives from the City’s financial advisor, Davenport & Company LLC. Fitch reaffirmed the City’s “AA+” credit rating, which is considered highly rated and one notch below “AAA,” the highest possible rating attainable. According to Fitch, “The 'AA+' Issuer Default Rating reflects the city's strong operating performance and financial resilience, a solid revenue framework and a liability burden at the low end of the moderate range, all supported by a growing economic base.” Fitch assigned their “aa factor assessment” to the City’s Revenue, Expenditure and Long-Term Liability Burden, while assigning their “aaa factor assessment” to the City’s Operating Performance, citing “The combination of revenue and