Prince William Gets High Grade on Wall Street

The three Wall Street credit agencies that monitor municipal bonds have given Prince William County a thumbs-up for its financial health, the county announced Thursday.

The county's AAA/Aaa status with a "Stable Outlook" has been reaffirmed by all three agencies – Moody's Investor Services, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services and Fitch Ratings, according to a county statement. The endorsements came as the county sold $171 million in bonds Tuesday to finance capital improvements in the Prince William school system.

The bonds were sold at a 2.38 percent true interest cost, the lowest interest rate that Prince William has ever received on a bond sale, the county statement added.

The commitment by the Prince William Board of County Supervisors "to effective fiscal management has been the driving factor in making certain we are able to provide the revenue for capital construction projects at the lowest possible cost to our residents," Board Chairman Corey Stewart said in the statement.

"This credit rating and low interest rate creates significant savings and allows the schools to maximize revenues for strategic priorities, such as class size reduction," he said.

The county said that on Tuesday, it sold $171.2 million in general obligation bonds through the Virginia Public School Authority (VPSA) for the construction, expansion and renovation of school facilities. The bond sale also aimed to refund "certain maturities of outstanding VPSA debt obligations," the statement added.