April 20th, 2023 –Islip Town Supervisor Angie Carpenter is pleased to announce that Moody’s Analytics, Inc. has once again reaffirmed the Town’s outstanding financial Aaa status with a stable outlook for the 8th consecutive time. The Town’s rating was first upgraded in March 2016 to Aaa, and was reaffirmed Aaa in September, 2016; September, 2017; October, 2018; April 2019; October, 2020; April, 2021; July, 2022 and April 20th 2023.
The rating agency announced today in its Aaa reassignment, “The stable outlook reflects the expectation of continued strong operations given prudent management and continued growth and diversification in the local economy.” New this year, the Town of Islip received a rating of MIG 1 to the Town's estimated $17 million Bond Anticipation Notes - 2023 Series B and MIG 1 to the Town's estimated $5 million Bond Anticipation Notes - 2023 Series C (Federally Taxable).
By Moody’s definition, the MIG 1/VMIG 1 designation denotes best quality. “There is present strong protection by established cash flows, superior liquidity support or demonstrated broad-based access to the market for refinancing,” noted the rating agency.
“We continue working closely with our commissioners to tighten budgets as necessary, making certain that each and every taxpayer dollar spent is done with the utmost scrutiny. We have continued our zero-based budgeting to our spending plans, assuring that no projects move forward unless they are deemed truly essential. These are the strategies that enabled us to get the initial upgrade early in 2016, and which we continue to adhere to as we move forward,” said Islip Supervisor, Angie Carpenter.
Supervisor Carpenter, Comptroller Joe Ludwig and staff met in early 2016 with representatives from Moody’s, closely analyzing the Town’s financial documents and conducting a tour of Islip’s tremendous resources. At that time, Moody’s upgraded the Town’s bond rating to Aaa, the highest rating that can be assigned to a municipality.
“Our willingness to look at the process realistically is something that continues to have a positive impact with the rating agencies. The goal always has to be, to maximize our revenues and decrease our expenditures,” said Joseph Ludwig, Town of Islip Comptroller.
“The Town of Islip is committed to continued sound, appropriate, economic development, while at all times, preserving a good quality of life for our residents. Sometimes the decisions to be made are tough, but our residents deserve no less,” said Supervisor Carpenter. This new MIG 1 designation is particularly meaningful because it reflects the Town's strong underlying credit quality, as evidenced by its Aaa issuer rating, and history of market access, according to the rating agency. Moody’s financial ratings are used by banks and others in the financial services industry, to determine the financial health of a given organization.
