Sedalia Mayor Stephen J. Galliher announced at Monday night's rescheduled City Council meeting that the City's credit rating has received an upgrade.

S&P Global Ratings has raised Sedalia's credit rating from A+ Stable to AA- Stable, citing management's “competency through a history of balanced budgets, and has formalized a significant number of financial policies and practices that ensure longevity of the practices,” it was noted in a news release given to Council members and the media.

“Everybody's hard work has paid off,” the Mayor commented, adding that the higher rating will “help citizens' tax dollars go a bit further.”

City Administrator Kelvin Shaw said the two main factors in the upgrade involved financial discipline and budget performance.

“It means a great deal to the City. In terms of dollars and cents, it means about 15-20 basis points on any borrowings that we do (reducing the cost). It makes borrowing money easier if we need to, for infrastructure and those kinds of things. So that all means that we can provide those services … (by) asking for less from the taxpayers and spread their dollars a little further and get more done,” Shaw said.

He added that the higher rating is a validation that the City is being good a steward of the taxpayers' dollars. It has been at least seven years since it has last been changed, Shaw said.

“It's really a team effort. I get to recommend to Council, but Council gets to make the hard decisions,” Shaw said. “The Council and the Mayor have to work together and the eye on the prize, so to speak.”

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