S&P Affirms Newburyport's AAA Credit Rating

S&P Global Ratings affirmed the City of Newburyport's 'AAA' long-term credit rating on May 7, 2021.  From the rating agency:

"The long-term rating reflects our view of the city's:

• Very strong economy, with access to a broad and diverse MSA;
• Very strong management, with strong financial policies and practices under our Financial Management Assessment (FMA) methodology;
• Strong budgetary performance, with operating surpluses in the general fund and at the total governmental fund level in fiscal 2020;
• Strong budgetary flexibility, with an available fund balance in fiscal 2020 of 12.0% of operating expenditures;
• Very strong liquidity, with total government available cash at 22.0% of total governmental fund expenditures and 4.7x governmental debt service, and access to external liquidity we consider strong;
• Adequate debt and contingent liability profile, with debt service carrying charges at 4.7% of expenditures and net direct debt that is 59.0% of total governmental fund revenue, as well as low overall net debt at less than 3.0% of market value; and
• Strong institutional framework score."

A full copy of the report is attached.