Supervisor Brian Maher (R,C - Walden) announced that Moody’s Investor Service has issued the Town of Montgomery an Aa2 issuer rating for their upcoming Public Improvement Bond that will pay for a new Town Highway Department facility and consolidate past debt.

According to an official credit opinion from Moody’s Investor Service, “The Town of Montgomery Aa2 credit profile reflects the town’s very strong financial profile, a growing tax base, solid wealth and a low debt burden.” Moody’s went on to add, “Governance considerations are also a key consideration of the credit profile, with sound risk management and adequate financial strategy.”
“We have a great team here at town hall,” said Brian Maher. “We brought Bernard Bowen in from the private sector and he has done a great job building up our finance department along with the rest of our team. Having Moody’s come in, go through our books and interview us, was a great experience. To have an investor’s service like Moody’s report on our strong financial condition is very vindicating for our team. Numbers are numbers and governance of those numbers don’t lie. This credit opinion shows our residents that the town’s finances are in very good shape.”

Moody’s also took notice of the town not utilizing fund balance for operational expenses, only on certain capital expenditures which was part of their deep dive into the town’s books. The town will be issuing a $7.7 million public improvement bond. Out of the $7.7 million, $4.5 million will be set aside for the new highway garage and the balance will go towards consolidating past town debt related to water and sewer investments from many years ago.

“During my first term as Supervisor we passed two budgets, both with a decrease in taxes to the town A, B & D Funds,” continued Maher. “We also have seen two independent audits which show that the town, at the end of both calendar years, were over our projected total revenues and under our projected total expenses. These independent audits, coupled with our Moody’s credit opinion, are good indicators that those tax decreases were warranted and will not put our town at future risk. It is very important to also note that our town will be able to absorb this bond payment within our existing budget and will not need to increase taxes in our next budget in 2023 to pay for it.”