County expected to retain AAA bond rating

Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson said efforts to retain Oakland County's AAA bond rating were successful. "We expect Oakland County will retain its AAA bond rating from Moody's and Standard & Poor's based on our meetings with the ratings houses the past two days," Patterson said. Patterson and members of his budget team met with Moody's Investors Service on Monday and Standard & Poor's on Tuesday in order to retain Oakland County's AAA bond rating. They highlighted Oakland County's best budgeting practices and economic development success stories, including a balanced three-year rolling line-item budget with no budget cuts through 2015; a budget surplus that far exceeds the guidelines of the Government Finance Officers Association; and economic development and diversification initiatives that have accounted for more than $4.4 billion in investment, created more than 66,000 jobs, and retained more than 18,000 jobs. "Oakland County taxpayers have saved millions of dollars on infrastructure improvement projects over the years by borrowing money at the lowest market rates possible, all thanks to our AAA," Patterson said. Accompanying Patterson were Chief Deputy County Executive Gerald Poisson, Deputy County Executive Robert Daddow, Deputy County Executive Phillip Bertolini, Deputy County Executive Matthew Gibb, Management & Budget Director Laurie VanPelt, Water Resources Commissioner John McCulloch, Oakland County Treasurer Andrew Meisner, and John Axe of Axe & Ecklund PC in Grosse Pointe Farms. The meetings took place in Chicago. Published: Thu, Mar 8, 2012