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2023

Bond rating evaluation by Standard & Poor's national bond rating agency: General Obligation

Status Indicators:
Proceeding as Planned
 Monitoring Progress
Reviewing for Improvement
Information Unavailable

Status Indicators: Proceeding as Planned |  Monitoring Progress | Reviewing for Improvement | Information Unavailable

A general obligation bond (GO) is a municipal bond backed by the credit and taxing power of the issuing jurisdiction rather than the revenue from a given project. General obligation bonds are issued with the belief that a municipality will be able to repay its debt obligation through taxation or revenue from projects. A GO bond is secured by the issuers pledge to use all available resources — even tax revenues — to repay holders of the bond. General obligation bonds are usually used to fund government projects that will serve the public community, such as the $200 million Parks and $100 million Public Safety bonds that were approved by voters in 2019. 

 The GO bond rating offers insight into the City’s financial strength and is an indicator to the safety and stability of an investment for potential investors. The bond rating is issued by a rating agency with the purpose to provide information that makes it quicker for market participants to evaluate risk.  A bond’s credit rating is the rating agency’s opinion as to the creditworthiness of the bond’s issuer. The higher the credit rating, the better the credit quality, indicating a safer, more stable investment and lower interest rates for the issuer.  

The highest rating issued by Standard & Poor's is AAA. The grades AAA, AA, and A are considered investment grade, or of high quality.

The highest rating issued by Moody’s Investors Service is AAA. The grades AAA, AA and A, indicate low credit risk. Moody’s also adds numerical modifiers to the rating. The modifier 1 indicates that the rank is in the higher end of the generic rating category, while 2 indicates mid-range, and 3 at the lower end.   

Standard & Poor's Global Rating provide their assessments of the City's financial stability using ratings assigned to the following criteria: institutional framework, economy, management, budgetary flexibility, budgetary performance, liquidity and debt and contingent liabilities.

The ratings have been converted to numerical values to allow for charting.

AAA=4

AA=3


In 2019 when the five-year target was established, it was the City’s preference to increase the target, but as there are many external contributing factors that affect the rating to confidently increase the 2024 target to AAA, the highest possible rating, it remained at AA. 

In January 2020, the City's credit rating was evaluated by both Standard & Poor and Moody's.  Given the successful outcome of the review the City's GO Bonds were upgraded to AAA by Standard & Poor, and the five year target was modified to AAA. 


In 2020, Standard and Poor's (S&P) assigned a 'AAA' rating to the City's general obligation (GO) bonds.  S&P attributed the City's ratings to a very strong economy, budgetary flexibility, management, and liquidity. 

The ratings and opinions of Wall Street’s leading credit rating institutions signal strong confidence in the financial management of the City of Fort Lauderdale. High bond ratings enable the City to borrow and repay money at much lower interest rates which translates into millions of dollars in savings for taxpayers and ratepayers.

Standard & Poor is a leading index provider and a source of independent credit ratings. 

City of Fort Lauderdale
100 North Andrews Avenue | Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
www.fortlauderdale.gov

Office of Management and Budget
Division of Structural Innovation
Contact: [email protected]

City of Fort Lauderdale
100 North Andrews Avenue | Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
www.fortlauderdale.gov

Office of Management and Budget
Division of Structural Innovation
Contact: [email protected]