Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/289950
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has raised its long-term rating on Sarasota County's lim- ited ad valorem tax bonds to A- from BBB+, the county has announced. The rating reflects the company's opinion of the following, a news release explains: • Evidence of some tax-base stabilization, with property values increasing 4.1 percent in the 2014 fiscal year. • Stronger annual debt-service coverage in Fiscal Year 2013. • A revised debt-service schedule following a 2011 defeasance, with lower payments through 2019. • The county's demonstrated willingness to step in when coverage falls to low levels to ensure that debt service on the bonds is paid from lawfully available funds. "This is further evidence of not only an improving economy, but also the commis- sion's ongoing fiscal prudence when it comes to prioritizing our investments into the proj- ects that the community needs most," said Steve Botelho, acting assistant county admin- istrator and director of the Office of Financial Management, in the release. Sarasota County originally issued the bonds to provide funds for its Environmentally Sensitive Lands Protection and Parklands Program, a voter-approved and taxpay- er-funded initiative designed to acquire and protect natural lands and parklands, the release points out. The voters authorized the bonds in 1999 and renewed that authorization in 2005 for additional 10 years. STANDARD & POOR'S RAISES COUNTY BOND RATING Steve Botelho. File photo On April 1, Sarasota County Sheriff Tom Knight recognized the office's 2013 Employees of the Year, the office has announced. The Law Enforcement Deputy of the Year is Ray Vleck, who is assigned to the Patrol Bureau. He also has responsibilities as a Field Training Officer (FTO), Tactical Flight Officer SHERIFF KNIGHT RECOGNIZES THE 2013 EMPLOYEES OF THE YEAR (TFO) and, for the majority of the year, as a Mounted Patrol deputy, a news release says. "Specialty units routinely rely on him to help locate suspects because of his vast knowledge of prolific offenders in this community," it notes. The Corrections Deputy of the Year, Donald Bennett, "has a vast knowledge of jail Sarasota News Leader April 4, 2014 Page 73