Aaa rating and negative outlook apply to $59.7 million post-sale general obligation debt
New York, October 10, 2012 --
Moody's Rating
Issue: General Obligation Tax Increment Bonds, Series 2012A;
Rating: Aaa; Sale Amount: $5,130,000;
Expected Sale Date: 10-15-2012; Rating Description:
General Obligation
Issue: General Obligation Utility Revenue Bonds, Series 2012B;
Rating: Aaa; Sale Amount: $3,135,000;
Expected Sale Date: 10-15-2012; Rating Description:
General Obligation
Issue: General Obligation Improvement Bonds, Series 2012C;
Rating: Aaa; Sale Amount: $1,385,000;
Expected Sale Date: 10-15-2012; Rating Description:
General Obligation
Opinion
Moody's Investors Service has assigned Aaa rating to the City of Burnsville's
(MN) $5.1 million General Obligation Tax Increment Bonds,
Series 2012A, $3.1 million General Obligation Utility
Revenue Bonds, Series 2012B, and $1.4 million
General Obligation Improvement Bonds, Series 2012C. Concurrently,
Moody's affirms the Aaa rating on the city's outstanding general obligation
debt, affecting $59.7 million post-sale.
Moody's also affirms the Aa2 rating on the city's outstanding
$5.4 million of lease revenue debt. A negative outlook
has been assigned.
SUMMARY RATING RATIONALE
The bonds are secured by the city's general obligation unlimited tax pledge.
Proceeds of the Series 2012A bonds will finance the construction of an
intersection in the city's Tax Increment Finance (TIF) district,
and debt service will be payable from TIF revenues. Proceeds of
the Series 2012B will finance various water, sewer, and street
projects, and debt service is expected to be paid with enterprise
revenues. Proceeds of the 2012C bonds will finance various street
rehabilitation and reconstruction projects, with debt service payable
from special assessments. The Aaa rating reflects the city's diverse
local economy that is favorably located in the Twin Cities metropolitan
area; strong financial position supported by prudent financial management;
and low direct debt burden. The Aa2 lease revenue rating reflects
the non-essential nature of project financed (ice rink) and risk
of annual non-appropriation for debt service.
The negative outlook reflects consecutive years of significant declines
in taxable valuations, weaker and demographic profile compared to
neighboring peers, and modest enterprise risk posed by the city's
Performing Arts Center that may pose downward pressure on the city's
rating.
STRENGTHS
Large and diverse economy in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan
area
Strong financial operations and policies supported by ample reserves
CHALLENGES
Significant multi-year decline in valuations
Socioeconomic indices below medians for comparably rated cities
Modest enterprise risk posed by various major and non-major enterprise
funds
Negative outlook
The negative outlook reflects the weakened trend in valuations and economic
indicators over the past decade, and likelihood that these trends
may continue to decline putting further downward pressure on the rating.
What could change the outlook to stable
- Continued strong financial operations across all funds
- Improved and sustained balanced operations in the Performing
Arts Fund
- Stabilization of and increases to the city's valuations
What could change the rating - DOWN
- Material declines in fund balances and liquidity
- Further contraction of the city's already declining tax base
and weakening of demographic profile
- Emergence of enterprise pressures on General Fund operations
PRINCIPAL METHODOLOGY
The principal methodology used in this rating was General Obligation Bonds
Issued by U.S. Local Governments published in October 2009.
Please see the Credit Policy page on www.moodys.com for
a copy of this methodology.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
The Global Scale Credit Ratings on this press release that are issued
by one of Moody's affiliates outside the EU are endorsed by Moody's
Investors Service Ltd., One Canada Square, Canary Wharf,
London E 14 5FA, UK, in accordance with Art.4 paragraph
3 of the Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009 on Credit Rating Agencies.
Further information on the EU endorsement status and on the Moody's
office that has issued a particular Credit Rating is available on www.moodys.com.
For ratings issued on a program, series or category/class of debt,
this announcement provides relevant regulatory disclosures in relation
to each rating of a subsequently issued bond or note of the same series
or category/class of debt or pursuant to a program for which the ratings
are derived exclusively from existing ratings in accordance with Moody's
rating practices. For ratings issued on a support provider,
this announcement provides relevant regulatory disclosures in relation
to the rating action on the support provider and in relation to each particular
rating action for securities that derive their credit ratings from the
support provider's credit rating. For provisional ratings,
this announcement provides relevant regulatory disclosures in relation
to the provisional rating assigned, and in relation to a definitive
rating that may be assigned subsequent to the final issuance of the debt,
in each case where the transaction structure and terms have not changed
prior to the assignment of the definitive rating in a manner that would
have affected the rating. For further information please see the
ratings tab on the issuer/entity page for the respective issuer on www.moodys.com.
Information sources used to prepare the rating are the following:
parties involved in the ratings, parties not involved in the ratings,
public information, confidential and proprietary Moody's Investors
Service information, confidential and proprietary Moody's
Analytics information.
Moody's considers the quality of information available on the rated
entity, obligation or credit satisfactory for the purposes of issuing
a rating.
Moody's adopts all necessary measures so that the information it
uses in assigning a rating is of sufficient quality and from sources Moody's
considers to be reliable including, when appropriate, independent
third-party sources.
However, Moody's is not an auditor and cannot in every instance
independently verify or validate information received in the rating process.
Please see the ratings disclosure page on www.moodys.com
for general disclosure on potential conflicts of interests.
Please see the ratings disclosure page on www.moodys.com
for information on (A) MCO's major shareholders (above 5%) and
for (B) further information regarding certain affiliations that may exist
between directors of MCO and rated entities as well as (C) the names of
entities that hold ratings from MIS that have also publicly reported to
the SEC an ownership interest in MCO of more than 5%. A
member of the board of directors of this rated entity may also be a member
of the board of directors of a shareholder of Moody's Corporation;
however, Moody's has not independently verified this matter.
Please see Moody's Rating Symbols and Definitions on the Rating Process
page on www.moodys.com for further information on the meaning
of each rating category and the definition of default and recovery.
Please see ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com
for the last rating action and the rating history.
The date on which some ratings were first released goes back to a time
before Moody's ratings were fully digitized and accurate data may not
be available. Consequently, Moody's provides a date that
it believes is the most reliable and accurate based on the information
that is available to it. Please see the ratings disclosure page
on our website www.moodys.com for further information.
Please see www.moodys.com for any updates on changes to
the lead rating analyst and to the Moody's legal entity that has issued
the rating.
Soo Yun Chun
Analyst
Public Finance Group
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
100 N Riverside Plaza
Suite 2220
Chicago, IL 60606
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
Andrea Stenhoff
Analyst
Public Finance Group
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
Releasing Office:
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
Moody's assigns Aaa rating to the City of Burnsville's (MN) GO Bonds, Series 2012A, Series 2012B, and 2012C; negative outlook assigned