Mayor Report

Salt Lake County has a proud history of being rewarded for its conservative financial practices. Traditionally Salt Lake is one of less than two dozen counties nationwide that win AAA bond ratings from all three professional ratings agencies.

Working with Zions Public Finance, just last month, the county was able to sell the $22 million voter-approved Hogle Zoo bonds at an incredibly low rate that will save taxpayers an estimated $1.15 million over the 20-year life of this particular bond issue.

The savings are directly attributable to extremely low interest rates afforded by the county's AAA bond ratings as well as the type of bonds issued with the assistance of our advisor, Zions Public Finance.

These ratings are very important to all governmental agencies who seek to fund expensive building projects. Credit agencies rate bonds similarly to the way personal credit is rated so a mortgage company knows what kind of risk the borrower is and adjusts the mortgage rate accordingly.

Most bond rating agencies use a system that ranks bonds from Salt Lake County's very safe (AAA or Triple A) all the way down to something really horrible (Single D).

Fitch, Moody's Investor Service and Standard and Poor's all noted Salt Lake County's good financial performance, conservative financial management policies and historically strong management.

•"Moody's believes that the county benefits from strong management which is reflected in sound financial operations despite a recent narrowing of its financial position."—Moody's Investors Service, January 29, 2010

•"The county maintains its long history of fiscal policies and budgeting practices that produce healthy financial operations … supported by ongoing adherence to conservative financial management policies."—Fitch Ratings Service, January 22, 2010

•"We have assigned our Financial Management Assessment score of 'strong' to the county. This indicates that the county maintains most practices deemed critical to supporting credit quality, and these are well embedded in the government's daily operations and practices."—Standard & Poor's, January 19, 2010

One of our long term goals has been to maintain this rating because it saves taxpayers money, especially important during our difficult economic times.