WINNIPEG, MB - September 18, 2012 - Mayor Sam Katz and senior officials from the City of Winnipeg will travel to New York City today to meet with major credit rating agencies to highlight the City’s strong financial performance.
Mayor Katz will be joined by Finance Chair Scott Fielding, Chief Administrative Officer Phil Sheegl, and Chief Financial Officer Mike Ruta. They will make presentations to representatives of both Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s. Since 2006, Winnipeg has maintained ratings of Aa1 with Moody’s and AA with Standard & Poor’s, both a solid reflection of the progress the City has made.
“As Mayor and as members of City Council, our goal is to invest in citizens’ priorities by funding community centres, upgrading our roads and bridges, and building new emergency services facilities,” said Mayor Sam Katz. “At the same time, we’re working hard to find efficiencies and use innovative funding strategies like Public-Private Partnerships to stretch limited tax dollars. Our credit raters have taken note, and their ratings reflect our efforts.”
“Based on our most current ratings, I am very pleased that our credit raters have shown confidence in our current and future approach to investment. Through vision and careful management, our financial house is in order,” said Councillor Scott Fielding, Chair of the Standing Policy Committee on Finance.
The City faces an infrastructure deficit in its aging roads, transit, facilities, buildings and parks. In addition, the Province’s increased pollution standards, and the resulting mandate to improve wastewater systems, has resulted in an accelerated capital program for sewage disposal systems. In this low interest rate environment, the City is proposing debt financing for some of these major, intergenerational projects. Credit ratings are essential in order to successfully issue and place debt with investors in the capital markets.
In 2011, long-term debt grew by $62 million, as a result of investments made in the Chief Peguis Trail Extension and the Southwest Transit Corridor. The City is prudently using debt to address capital investment needs. Projected, future growth in debt is manageable and within the borrowing limits set in the Debt Strategy and Financial Management Plan. The City has used these Council-approved plans as guideposts to carefully position our city well for future, priority investments.
The City’s property taxes are among the lowest in the country, and our operating costs are now the lowest per capita of any comparable Canadian city. This level of fiscal responsibility enabled City Council to increase its investments in all major services and operations involving public safety, infrastructure renewal and community centre investments in the 2012 Adopted Operating Budget.