The bond rating agency Moody’s has upgraded DeKalb County’s credit rating from “positive” to “stable.”
The agency’s report was issued earlier this week and cited DeKalb’s “healthy and improved financial position driven by solid management and conservative budgeting.” The upgrade from an Aa3 to an Aa2 rating will have a positive impact on $226 million in outstanding bonds, county officials said.
DeKalb CEO Michael Thurmond — who has converted a $25 million deficit into a $110 million rainy day fund over his first term in office — said the improved rating was especially meaningful in the middle of a pandemic-fueled recession.
“Much like the hard-working ants in Aesop’s fable, we built our financial reserves during periods of economic growth,” Thurmond said in a news release. “Thus, we are better positioned to protect DeKalb’s quality of life from the health and economic crisis that is buffeting the American economy.”
The fable of “The Ant and the Grasshopper” — in which the former works hard and plans for the future while the latter wastes the summer away and is left to starve in the winter — is a favorite of Thurmond’s and a regular part of his budget presentations.
He credited the Moody’s upgrade to “prudent decisions” made by his administration and the county’s Board of Commissioners. Even before the pandemic hit, DeKalb had adopted a 2020 budget that anticipated an economic downturn.
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