November 30, 2022 3:30 a.m.

The City of Roseburg has maintained its high credit rating with a leading bond credit rating business.

A City of Roseburg release said on November 17th, Moody’s Investor Service, a leading provider of credit ratings for public finance issuers, released its annual comment on the City of Roseburg and confirmed its credit rating for the City as an Aa3 with no outlook.

Finance Department Director Ron Harker said an “Aa” rating signifies that obligations of the entity – in this case, the City – are judged to be of high quality and are subject to very low credit risk.

Harker said that “Maintaining an ‘Aa3 with No Outlook’ is something to be proud of”. Harker said, “The big win here is that we have been able to maintain an Aa3 rating (High Quality) as we begin to absorb the difficulties of a slowing economy and high inflation”.

The release said credit rating agencies such as Moody’s are essentially assessing the potential “risk of default” that a bond issuer will be unable to pay interest or principal on the debt when they issue their rating scores. Investor, portfolio managers and bankers are the primary users of credit rating scores, according to Harker.

Harker said with an Aa3 rating, the City is in full compliance with its goals and policies. Harker said the City has been able to maintain that credit rating for a number of years.