June 6th, 2013 by WCBC Radio
Cumberland city officials received some encouraging fiscal news during a recent trip to New York City to seek an upgrade of the city’s financial ratings. While it wasn’t the news they had hoped for, the news was generally positive. Mayor Brian Grim, City Administrator Jeff Rhodes and Joe Urban, city comptroller, visited Wall Street last week for two days and met with officials from two major firms in financial ratings industry. The three met with Standard and Poor’s and Fitch Ratings officials to make a case for an increase in Cumberland’s financial scores. Financial advisers from both firms kept their overall grades for Cumberland the same but both upgraded their future outlooks for the city. According to Rhodes, Fitch maintained their A rating for the city but changed their overall outlook from “negative” to “stable.” Standard and Poor’s maintained an A- grade for the city but upgraded their future outlook from “negative” to “positive.” Rhodes said both ratings firms have a AAA grade as their highest rating. The grades are important when an entity is trying to secure financing and obtain attractive interest rates…
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