El Monte, CA – The City of El Monte had its overall credit rating outlook improved from “negative” to “stable” as determined by Standard and Poor Global Ratings (S&P) on March 10, 2022. The S&P report revised its outlook to stable from negative and affirmed its 'A+' issuer credit rating (ICR) on the City, as well as its 'A+' long-term rating on the City's pension obligation bonds (POBs) and its 'A' underlying rating (SPUR) on appropriation obligations for which the city is obligor. "The outlook revision reflects our view of the city's resilient financial performance in the face of stresses associated with the recent recession and the COVID-19 pandemic," said S&P Global Ratings credit analyst Chris Morgan.”
This S&P report recognizes the improvements in the fiscal and organizational management of the City and indicates the financial outlook for El Monte is no longer “negative.” The S&P report goes on to say that “El Monte appears to have effectively navigated the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and related recession. Sales tax performance has held up despite regional job losses, and the city was able to leverage one-time proceeds from a pension obligation bond issuance during fiscal 2020 and federal grants during fiscal 2021 to largely balance general fund operations.”
“The improvement to a “stable” outlook is a testament to the City’s improved financial performance and the swift and strategic actions taken by City Council and staff during the worldwide pandemic,” said City manager Alma Martinez. “Our reserves are now significantly above policy minimum thresholds and we’ve further enhanced our resiliency to other future economic shocks like we just had. She added that this rating will assist the City in future financings that might be considered by City Council when improvements are needed to upgrade the City’s aging infrastructure.
A full copy of the S&P Global Ratings report is available at https://www.ci.el-monte.ca.us/.