The following was submitted by the mayor's office. 

The rating agency Standard & Poors gave Melrose an outstanding bond rating and upgraded its rating outlook from “stable” to “positive” as the City issued new bonds earlier this month.

“This is an important validation of the efforts we have made over the past ten years to continuously improve the financial picture of the City of Melrose,” said Mayor Rob Dolan. “These ratings demonstrate continued confidence in the city’s fiscal structure and practices by expert outside analysts. It’s like our financial report card—and we’re on the honor roll.”

Arthur Flavin, City Treasurer, received several competitive bids from bond and note underwriters on Thursday, November 8, 2012 for a $5,420,000 24-year bond issue and a $5,950,000 1-year bond anticipation note issue. Fidelity Capital Markets purchased the Bonds at an average interest rate of 2.06% and Jefferies & Company purchased the Notes at a net interest cost of 0.26%. The City received a total of 5 bids on the Bonds and 6 bids on the Notes. Proceeds of the bond and note issue will be used to finance various capital improvements.

Prior to the sale, Standard & Poor’s, a municipal credit rating agency, assigned a rating of “AA-” to the City’s long-term debt and improved their rating outlook from “stable” to “positive”. Standard & Poor’s assigned their highest short-term rating of SP-1+ to the Notes. The agency cited the City’s extremely strong per capita market values, stable operations, good reserves and low debt burden as positive credit factors.

“This positive rating and improved outlook is particularly impressive in view of the uncertain financial times that the country faces,” said city auditor Patrick Dello Russo. “This is a notable achievement and confirms the City’s strong fiscal footing.”