Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/140592
Sarasota News Leader June 28, 2013 Page 61 CITY OF SARASOTA'S UTILITIES BOND RATING UPGRADED The revenue bond rating for the City of Sara- er and water service to our customers without sota Utilities Department was upgraded last increasing our debt. Receiving this upgrade week to AA from AA-, the city has announced. now truly speaks to the quality, professional job staff is doing to position the city to ensure "The upgrade by Fitch Ratings signifies the its financial health." Utilities Department is financially healthy and carries a very low risk of default into the Fitch Ratings cites several factors that create foreseeable future," a city news release says. a stable financial outlook for the Utilities De"It also represents potential future savings partment, including the following, according on interest rates," the release notes. "AA is to the release: FitchRatings third highest rating, just behind • Scheduled declines in annual debt service AAA and AA+," it adds. this year and in 2016. "This is good news for the financial state of the City," said City Manager Tom Barwin in the • Increased liquidity because of the sale of 2,500 acres of city-owned property in 2011. release. "Our Utilities debt burden is declining and our liquidity has greatly improved with • Systematic predictable rate increases. the sale of the Hi-Hat Ranch property," Barwin pointed out. "Meanwhile, we're executing Bond ratings range from AAA, the highest a significant long-range capital improvement investment quality, to D, which indicates program to continue providing excellent sew- default. CLARIFICATIONS The seven Sarasota Police Department officers who will be losing their jobs at the end of this fiscal year — referenced in the June 21 article, A Law enforcement quagmire — were funded through a federal grant, City of Sarasota Public Information Officer Jan Thornburg told The Sarasota News Leader. "It has been known since the grant was accepted that the funding would no longer be available" after a certain point, she told the News Leader. al cost for a city police officer is slightly more than $100,000, according to budget records. The June 21 article, Tent city opens, incorrectly reported the source of a magazine article, Million-Dollar Murray. That article appeared in The New Yorker. Additionally, Liz Nolan, manager of Selby Library, who was quoted in the article, asked John Lege, the city's finance director, further the News Leader to allow her to clarify her clarified the information this week for the comments. News Leader. He said the grant covered the She said she believes homelessness cannot first three years of the officers' employment, be remedied by just spending more money on with the proviso that the city would pay for shelters. Instead, she believes the communitheir fourth year of employment. That fourth ty should be putting money into proper case year is ending on Sept. 30, which is the last management services, which can help put the day of the city's fiscal year. The average annu- homeless on paths to better lives.