During a special meeting Tuesday, Scurry County commissioners discussed the county’s Standard and Poors general obligation bond rating, which has stabilized at “A-plus.”
According to information from Standard and Poors, the rating reflects several different metrics that the company uses to set its ratings, including adequate economy and management, paired with very weak budgetary performance and weak budgetary flexibility.
“The county had operating deficits of 6.3 percent of expenditures in the general fund and 4.5 percent across all governmental funds in 2018,” the report stated. “Four years of deficit spending in recent years has hindered the county’s budgetary performance and significantly reduced its available reserves. This was largely due to the previous management’s reluctance to raise the tax rate and adopting balanced budgets, which were in fact deficit budgets reliant on the use of reserves.”
On the other hand, the company rated the county’s liquidity, with total cash available to the commissioners at 78.1 percent of governmental fund expenditures, as very strong and the debt profile as strong.
“The county demonstrates strong access to external liquidity through its access to capital markets,” said the report. “We believe the county will maintain its very strong liquidity over the next few years.”
In other business, the county leaders certified $535 in miscellaneous revenue from a 2 percent cost of living adjustment returned to the county by Commissioner Craig Merritt. The money was added through a budget amendment to a fund for a rural brush truck at the volunteer fire department.
The commissioners also tabled a measure to consider a resolution for the West Texas Children’s Advocacy Center.
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