The Erie County Office of Budget and Management today announced that Wall Street rating agency Fitch Ratings (“Fitch”) has affirmed Erie County’s “A+” credit rating and pronounced the county’s rating outlook as “stable” in the county’s most recent ratings assessment, released by Fitch earlier today. The rating reflects on Erie County’s Issuer default rating, the county’s soon-to-be-issued 2018 bonds and other bond issues from 2012 and 2014-16. Among the drivers behind the A+ rating, Fitch anticipates that county general fund revenues will continue to grow as the tax base continues a slow and steady expansion and improvements in the local economy drive sales tax growth. Fitch also notes that the county’s long-term liability burden is low compared to the economic resource base.

“Having this A+ rating reaffirmed by Fitch underscores the work we are doing every day to budget wisely and be careful stewards of the taxpayers’ money. It is good to hear from an independent agency such as Fitch that Erie County has stable financial operations and an improving economy, the results of my administration’s prudent budgeting and strong financial discipline,” said Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz. “I was elected Erie County Comptroller in 2005 to clean up the mess relating to the Red/Green fiscal crisis and county fiscal mismanagement, and under my watch we are not going back to those bad old days.  Now as County Executive I have overseen the path back to county budgetary responsibility since that time, and for Fitch to affirm our A+ rating once again underscores our hard work through the years.”

Fitch’s report can be read here.

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