Agenda - Council - 07/25/2017 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Summary: Ramsey, Minnesota; General Obligation Credit Profile US$0.895 mil GO str reconstruction bnds ser 2017A dtd 08/17/2017 due 12/15/2027 Long Term Rating AA+/Stable Ramsey GO Long Term Rating Rationale AA+/Stable New Affirmed S&P Global Ratings assigned its 'AA+' long-term rating to Ramsey, Minn.'s series 2017A general obligation (GO) street reconstruction bonds. At the same time, we affirmed our 'AA+' rating on the city's existing GO bonds. The outlook is stable. The city's GO unlimited property tax pledge secures the bonds as well as an additional pledge of special assessment revenues. Its existing GO debt is also secured by certain additional pledged revenues. However, we rate to the GO pledge, which we consider to be the stronger security. Bond proceeds from the series 2017A bonds will be used for street projects. The rating reflects our assessment of the city's: • Strong economy, with access to a broad and diverse metropolitan statistical area (MSA); • Strong management, with "good" 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 2016; • Very strong budgetary flexibility, with an available fund balance in fiscal 2016 of 70% of operating expenditures; • Very strong liquidity, with total government available cash at 4.2x total governmental fund expenditures and 23.9x governmental debt service, and access to external liquidity we consider strong; • Adequate debt and contingent liability position, with debt service carrying charges at 17.7% of expenditures and net direct debt that is 180.0% of total governmental fund revenue, as well as low overall net debt at less than 3% of market value and rapid amortization, with 70.1% of debt scheduled to be retired in 10 years; and • Strong institutional framework score. Strong economy We consider Ramsey's economy strong. The city, with an estimated population of 25,837, comprises about 29 square miles 20 miles north of Minneapolis in Anoka County. It is in the Minneapolis -St. Paul -Bloomington MSA, which we consider to be broad and diverse. It has a projected per capita effective buying income of 107.9% of the national level and per capita market value of $87,891. Overall, market value grew by 12.1% over the past year to $2.3 billion in 2016. The county unemployment rate was 3.8% in 2016. Management reports several housing developments are currently underway, which includes a mix of multifamily and WWW.STANDARDANDPOORS.COM/RATINGSDIRECT JULY 21, 2017 2 1887555 1302395558