City of Olathe's Water & Sewer Bond Rating Upgraded
Standard & Poor's Gives Water & Sewer Bonds an AA Rating

On January 16, 2009, Standard and Poor's Rating Agency announced that the City of Olathe's Water and Sewer Bonds have been upgraded to an AA Rating.  This is the third highest rating an organization can receive on their bonds from Standard and Poor's.  The top reasons cited by Standard and Poor's for Olathe's bond rating upgrade include:

• Diverse, expanding service area economy,
• Competitive and affordable rates when compared with other cities in the area,
• Sound coverage levels, with fiscal 2007 revenues providing more than 1.8x annual debt service coverage (DSC) including state revolving fund loans,
• Strong liquidity, with more than 123 days' unrestricted cash and investments on hand at fiscal year-end 2007, and
• A willingness to increase rates to maintain coverage and liquidity levels

The rating agency also indicated that Olathe's financial outlook is "stable."  "The stable outlook reflects our expectation that Olathe will continue to maintain its adequate financial performance and that the city will make the timely expansions necessary to meet growing demand.  In addition, in Standard and Poor's view the city's continued willingness to make the necessary rate adjustments as it layers on additional debt will be key to it maintaining rating stability."

Current Bond Rating Scale w/ Olathe's General Obligation and Water & Sewer Bond Ratings: