S&P Raises City of Sedalia’s Credit Rating One Half Point

The City of Sedalia's credit rating increased by a half point last week after Standard & Poors Global conducted a review.

Back in March of 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic first made itself known in Sedalia, Sedalia's credit rating was AA- stable. The uncertainty of the pandemic, added to the fact that Sedalia was borrowing money at the time to build the Heckart Community Center, prompted S&P to lower the outlook on the rating from stable to negative.

“So just last week, they called us to do an update,” said City Administrator Kelvin Shaw after Monday night's City Council meeting.

“Mayor Dawson and I went through several things with them, prepared some reports for them. They looked pretty extensively, then came back and reported that they will affirm, or leave our credit rating at AA-, and changed the outlook back from negative to stable. Again, the highest rating you can get is AAA,” Shaw explained. “They think we're in good shape as a AA-.”
“It lowers our interest rate on a long-term bond, so it saves taxpayers money and lets us do more with the same amount of money,” Shaw told KSIS. “I was pleased that we were able to get there.”

The City Administrator added that the improved rating points is a testament to the Council's fiscal discipline.
“It's awfully easy to look at our fund balances and our reserves and say, 'hey, let's go spend it.'” Shaw said. “If we don't keep those reserves, then we wouldn't be in that position.”

S&P took almost everyone to a negative outlook during the pandemic, he noted.

S&P Global Inc. is an American publicly traded corporation headquartered in Manhattan, New York City. Its primary areas of business are financial information and analytics.