Leesburg Maintains Top Municipal Credit Rating During Pandemic

LEESBURG, VA — The nation's three major rating agencies affirmed Leesburg’s AAA ratings with stable outlooks on the town’s upcoming $13.5 million general obligation bonds. AAA with a stable outlook is the highest rating a municipal government can receive.

The bonds are scheduled for competitive sale on Dec. 8 and are being issued to achieve interest savings by refinancing certain other bonds.

“Going to the rating agencies in the midst of the worst economic downtown in more than a decade was a risk, but the prudent financial action to take,” Clark Case, Leesburg’s director of Finance and Administrative Services, said Wednesday in a statement. “We were confident that our management of the fiscal impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic showed the strength of the town’s economic base and our established financial policies."

The savings in debt service costs for the bonds will increase Leesburg's financial flexibility as the coronavirus pandemic continues, Case said.

All three rating agencies — Fitch Ratings, Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s — cited Leesburg's diverse tax base, population growth and continued economic development as factors in the ratings.

Copies of the three rating reports are available on the town of Leesburg website.