By Jordyn Pair for The Center Square
Wisconsin’s credit rating remains healthy less than a month after the state’s Fiscal Year 2020 budget passed.
Kroll Bond Rating Agency recently assigned the state a rating of AA+ with a positive outlook. S&P Global gave Wisconsin a AA rating for its 2019 general obligation bonds by financial analysis group S&P Global Ratings. And Moody’s maintained the state’s Aa1 rating, also with a stable outlook.
S&P Global Ratings looks at five categories to create its overall state rating, including the state’s economy, management, liability, budget performance and government framework, according to Carol Spain, director of U.S. public finance of S&P.
Spain said Wisconsin’s pension system, one of the best funded in the country, in particular helps to offer flexibility and padding for the state’s budget and reserve balances.
State Treasurer Sarah Godlewski said that she is “glad that Wisconsin’s bond rating continues to remain strong and steady.”
Although Wisconsin’s “AA” rating is high when compared to ratings received by corporations, it falls in the median range for other states. But ratings like these are still important.
“Ratings impact … bonds prices in the market,” Spain said. “The higher the rating, the lower the interest cost.”
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers used his line-item veto on the state’s $81 billion state budget earlier this month to increase education spending.
Courtesy of The Center Square.
