Prince William residents can sleep at night knowing their county has a great credit rating

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Each of the three major bond credit rating agencies (Fitch Ratings, Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s Financial Services) reaffirmed the County’s financial position with a AAA bond rating – the highest credit rating available. This triple-AAA reflects the financial strength and sound fiscal management of Prince William County and is an achievement held by less than two percent of the nation’s 3,190 counties.

Moody’s stated that its “Aaa” rating and “stable outlook” designation “reflects the expectation that the county will continue to maintain its solid financial position given its healthy reserves and sound fiscal management.” Fitch noted that its “AAA” rating “reflects the county’s solid revenue growth prospects, healthy financial flexibility, and broad budgetary tools.” The report also pointed out the strength of the Prince William economy and noted, “given the county’s strong historical financial performance supported by conservative fiscal policies, Fitch expects fiscal 2017 will show similar positive results to fiscal 2016.” Lastly, S&P attributed its “AAA” rating with “stable outlook” to the strength of the local economy and sound fiscal management of Prince William County government, “We view the county’s management as very strong, with ‘strong’ financial policies and practices under our [financial management assessment] (FMA) methodology, indicating financial practices are strong, well embedded, and likely sustainable.” 

The ratings are a result of the agency analysts’ extensive review of the County’s Principles of Sound Financial Management, the Fiscal 2016 and Fiscal 2017 Adopted Budgets, Five-Year Budget Plan, Six-Year Capital Improvement Plan and the most recent Comprehensive Annual Financial Report.