Only county in Indiana to hold the designation
Hamilton County has received the highest possible credit rating, AAA, from Standard & Poor’s. It is the only county among the 92 counties in the state to receive such a rating.
“Even during this difficult economic downturn caused by the pandemic, the county remained fiscally strong, disciplined, and resilient,” said County Council member Fred Glynn. “These fundamentals show the county is positioned for more growth in the future.”
Heirbrandt
Glynn
The rating agency uses four categories of criteria: Economy/Tax base, Finances, Management, and Debt/Pensions. It affirms Hamilton County’s ability to pay its debts and weather uncertain economic times.
“This rating saves our residents money, by providing a lower cost of borrowing to finance capital projects. This also makes the county more attractive to businesses and signals a sound and stable economic climate,” said Mark Heirbrandt, president of the Hamilton County Commissioners. “It certainly speaks to the hard work and teamwork of our county commissioners, county council, and finance team over the past three months.”
In assigning its AAA bond rating, S&P analysts noted the county’s “strong population growth, high effective buying incomes, and low unemployment rates” among its key attributes.
It also noted the county’s Local Income Tax as “stronger than that of the U.S. Government (AA+),” remarking that Hamilton County “can maintain better credit characteristics than the U.S. in a stress scenario.”
“To improve our credit rating, while we continue to recover from the effects of the pandemic, ramp up numerous projects, and provide pandemic-related assistance to our residents and businesses is simply exceptional,” Heirbrandt said.