By Josh Resnek
The city’s bond rating is remaining at the same high level for the second year in a row by the nation’s leading bond rater, Standard and Poor’s Global Ratings.
This debunks the mayor’s pleas only one month ago that the city’s bond rating was in jeopardy if the School Department deficit was paid for by the city.
This announcement shows the value of cash in the city’s accounts as opposed to no cash in the city’s accounts or only small amounts of cash.
It also reveals the city’s cash flow to be strong, that is, that the city has major funds coming in and far fewer funds going out in a steady stream allowing for the city’s solvency and its bill paying abilities to remain unusually strong.
It also reveals how the bond rating is used as a Draconian tool when the mayor feels it is to his advantage to do so.
Much of this higher rating achieved over the past 2 years is attributed to the coming of the casino and hotel, which has contributed many millions of additional revenues coming into the city’s hungry treasury.
Everyone cheers this good news inside city hall, and especially the mayor and the city auditor.
However, Everett has had a great credit rating for the past 20 years – and it has changed only slightly throughout the past two decades.
Concerns about the city’s bond rating was used as the excuse for the city not to fund the School Department’s needs in the current fiscal year.
It was the cover for the mayor’s refusal to fund a School Department deficit which he later, of course, funded fully.
The bond rating and concerns about it, were used recently by City Auditor Eric Demas in his appearances before the City Council recently backing the mayor’s refusal to fund the schools or even to fund out of state travel for the school’s championship bands and chorus and for its technical expert young people, the STEM members.
The case was strongly made that the city’s bond rating would be effected negatively if the city funded the deficit.
Well, those fears have been shown to be something less than honest as everything for the schools has been funded and the city’s bond rating has remained exactly the same, as reported by S&P Global.
For the record, the city’s rating is at AA+.