Former Mayor of Lambertville Dave Del Vecchio called attention today to Standard & Poor's (S&P) affirming the City's 'AA' bond rating, pointing to the low interest rate received on the most recent bond issue. The rating agency released its updated rating on March 20th

S&P's detailed fiscal analysis highlighted Lambertville's very strong budget flexibility: "Very strong budgetary flexibility, with an available fund balance in fiscal 2016 of 21% of operating expenditures." 

The rating agency noted Lambertville's low net debt and rapid pay-off timeline: "Overall net debt is low at 2.7% of market value and approximately 75.8% of direct debt is scheduled to be repaid within 10 years, which are, in our view, positive credit factors."

S&P evaluated the City's financial picture as stable going forward: "The stable outlook reflects S&P Global Ratings' opinion that it will likely not change the rating over the next two years. We expect Lambertville will likely maintain its very strong fund balance due to conservative and effective budgeting techniques. In addition to effective budgeting, we believe its diverse and stable tax base provides additional rating stability."

Lambertville's excellent bond rating resulted in the City getting a low 2.82% interest rate on last week's sale of $5.58 million in general obligation bonds. 

"Our reaffirmed AA bond rating demonstrates that our City remains on a sound long-term fiscal path," said Former Mayor Dave Del Vecchio. "It is already paying off in low interest rates."

Read the full story at NJ.com