For Immediate Release -  July 21, 2020

The Standard & Poor’s credit rating agency recently announced that the County of Wellington has maintained its AA+ credit rating, with a stable outlook.

“Wellington County’s operating performance and financial management continues to remain very strong even amid the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Warden Kelly Linton. “It is rewarding to know that our efforts at balancing costs, expenditures and investments in infrastructure, continue to result in a very strong quality of life that continues to be enjoyed by our residents.”

Standard & Poor’s highlighted the following areas for the AA+ credit rating:

• Steady population growth

•  Above-average household income

•  Strong and improving financial management practices

•  Stable economy and advantageous location

•  Strong budgetary performance

•  Healthy liquidity position

•  Stable, well-balanced, predictable institutional framework

Budgetary stresses stemming from the pandemic will be largely temporary in nature

County Council and staff demonstrate stable, experienced and effective leadership

“The County has maintained its AA+ credit rating for the past 6 years,” commented Chris White, Administration, Finance and Human Resources Committee Chair. “We’ve been able to do this by balancing needs with resources. The AA+ credit rating also results in a lower cost of borrowing to help finance future capital projects for the County and its member municipalities.”

With offices in 26 countries and a history that dates back more than 150 years, Standard & Poor’s is known to investors worldwide as a leader of financial-market intelligence. Today, Standard & Poor’s strives to provide investors who want to make better informed investment decisions with market intelligence in the form of credit ratings, indices, investment research, risk evaluations and solutions.

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