Hunking School groundbreaking ceremony.
Haverhill maintained its relatively high AA bond rating from Standard & Poor’s after it recently floated $11 million in bonds for the Hunking School replacement project, fire department pumper truck and Broadway street redesign.
In a message this week to Haverhill city councilors, Mayor James J. Fiorentini said he sought to lock in rates by selling municipal bonds now.
“With the FED talking about raising interest rates, we all felt that it was the appropriate time to lock in today’s historically low interest rates,” Fiorentini said. He told councilors the city had been engaging in short-term borrowing using bond anticipation notes. Such notes are typically issued with the expectation they will be paid off when long-term bonds are floated. Investors often buy the bonds because of their tax-exempt status.
Fiorentini said the relatively high bond rating—which he called “the highest in our history”—resulted in an average interest rate of 3.5 percent.
“With the FED talking about raising interest rates, we all felt that it was the appropriate time to lock in today’s historically low interest rates,” Fiorentini said.” – LoL! They have been saying that for five years!
Next question for Jim would be: How are these bond rating agencies paid? And what is their track record? Why were these BASIC questions not asked?