Newtown Receives Bond Rating Upgrade

By John Voket

In seeking a bond rating upgrade from Standard & Poor’s instead of Moody’s Investors Service, Newtown was rewarded in its first attempt with an upgrade to AA-Plus status.

According to finance board Chairman John Kortze, receiving the AA-Plus rating is the equivalent to receiving an AA-1 rating from Moody’s.

Town officials hoped that by seeking the upgrade from a new agency, Newtown would be rewarded, enabling the town to receive even lower interest rates on borrowing for capital projects and bonding in the future.

Newtown Finance Director Robert Tait announced several months ago that he would seek a rating from Standard & Poor’s and received the endorsement to do so from the finance board.

Newtown officials received the announcement at approximately 11 am Thursday morning, February 4.