HADLEY — Hadley is maintaining the highest bond rating issued by Standard and Poor’s Global Ratings, an indication the town continues to have a strong commercial sector and a good per capita sales figure.
While residents are being presented the town’s first-ever Proposition 2½ tax-cap override this month, to support town and school operations, David Eisenthal, a financial adviser with Unibank Fiscal Advisory Services, told the Select Board and Finance Committee last Wednesday that the town’s economy is “very strong” and the $115,000 per capita sales outpaces other area communities due to the commercial base.
“Even with the challenges, the finances are still pretty strong,” Eisenthal said, adding that Hadley should continue to hold the bond rating so long as it doesn’t drawdown its reserves any further.
The town’s bond rating for outstanding general obligation bonds was upgraded from AA+ to AAA in 2019. Only Northampton in Hampshire County has the AAA bond rating.
But Eisenthal did caution that without a successful operating budget override, it would be hard for Hadley keep the AAA rating. A lower bond rating would likely marginally increase borrowing costs.
Still, Eisenthal said the debt numbers are reasonably modest, with a concern being future projects that could affect the debt load, like borrowing to pay for a new Department of Public Works facility.
With the information in hand, the Select Board voted to sell $2.83 million in a general obligation municipal purpose loan bonds to SWBC Investment Services, LLC, of San Antonio, Texas for $3.01 million and accrued interest.
Treasurer Linda Sanderson said there was a lot of cooperation all around and hard work by municipal staff to keep the AAA bond rating.
“We knew if we didn’t get the AAA rating, we’d done everything we could,” Sanderson said.